Boomers fightback just falls short in NZ

Perth Wildcats guard Elijah Pepper scored 28 points and the Australian Boomers got back within six after trailing by 30 but the New Zealand Tall Blacks closed out the 106-97 Game 3 Trans-Tasman Throwdown win in Hamilton.

The inaugural Trans-Tasman Throwdown got underway back on Wednesday night at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre with the Boomers beating the Tall Blacks 80-68 having come from behind to do so.

Australia then produced a dominant performance on the Sunshine Coast on Friday night to win 92-67, but it was a different Tall Blacks outfit for Sunday's Game 3 on home soil at Hamilton's Globox Arena.

Desperate to get the win in front of more than 2000 home fans and even without Melbourne United star Shea Ili, the Tall Blacks shot out of the blocks racing out to an 11-2 start which soon became 16-4 when Breakers excitement machine Carlin Davison completed the alley-oop finish.

New Zealand turned that into a 28-16 lead by the end of one and then remained in control at half-time with the 57-44 advantage.

The lead for the Tall Blacks then got out to as much as 30 during the third term when 358-game NBL veteran Reuben Te Rangi knocked down a three ball ahead of his return to the Breakers in NBL26.

The game might have looked out of reach with the Tall Blacks still up 24 at three quarter-time, but the Boomers weren’t going down without a fight and turned up the tempo at both ends in the fourth period.

Mitch Norton scored five quick points to start the final quarter, Angus Glover then dropped a three ball and a three-point play from the Brisbane Bullets captain had Australia back within 16 after just two minutes.

Pepper then hit a three ball with just over four minutes to play to make it a 12-point game, DJ Vasiljevic hit from deep too with three minutes to play and it was an eight-point margin.

New Zealand were getting shaky especially without the poise of Ili out there with ball in hands before Todd Blanchfield got Australia back within seven.

However, it was Taylor Britt with a huge three with 1:30 to play that was just the steadier the Tall Blacks needed and they were able to secure the nine-point win even after Australia got all the way back within six.

It was a dominance on the glass from New Zealand with the hosts pulling down 50 rebounds to Australia's 28 for the game including 21 at the offensive end for a monstrous 34 second chance points.

On the back of that, the Tall Blacks had 13 more field goal attempts with Britt delivering 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists ahead of his return to the NBL at the Breakers.

Te Rangi added 18 points and three assists, Kaia Isaac 14 points and seven rebounds, Tohi Smith-Milner 13 points and four boards, Davison 12 points and four rebounds, and Walter Brown nine points, seven boards and four assists.

Pepper has been averaging 43.3 points a game this NBL1 West season at the Warwick Senators and showed why with the Wildcats guard putting up 28 points on 9/16 shooting for the Boomers. He also pulled down seven of his team's 28 rebounds.

Bullets captain Norton put up 19 points, three assists and two steals with Adelaide 36ers skipper Vasiljevic producing 13 points while Blanchfield contributed nine points and four assists, and Glover seven points, five rebounds and four assists.

TRANS-TASMAN THROWDOWN – GAME 3

AUSTRALIAN BOOMERS 97 (Pepper 28, Norton 19, Vasiljevic 13)

NEW ZEALAND TALL BLACKS 106 (Britt 23, Te Rangi 18, K Isaac 14)

BOX SCORE