Tall Blacks fall in pre-tournament opener

Friday, August 4, 2023

New Zealand has fallen to Japan in the Tall Blacks' opening World Cup warmup game.

The Tall Blacks fell to Japan in their opening World Cup warmup game last night, with returning Breaker Finn Delany starring for his national side in the seven-point defeat.

New Zealand roared to a 12-point quarter time lead but were pegged back by Japan, who had Melbourne United championship winner Yudai Baba in its ranks.

Delany finished the clash with a game-high 16 points and seven boards, while South East Melbourne’s Reuben Te Rangi also outscored every individual on the Japanese side with 15 points.

Keisei Tominaga led the scoring for Japan with 13 points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?Japan have claimed a 79-72 victory over the Tall Blacks overnight, in the first of two friendly games between the two countries in advance of the FIBA World Cup.<br><br>??Delany 16pts & 7reb, Te Rangi 15, Le’Afa 12, Cameron 7pts, 7reb & 4 ast.<br><br>?Recap: <a href="https://t.co/kc0v11CvIO">https://t.co/kc0v11CvIO</a> <a href="https://t.co/R5pEALYZ9N">pic.twitter.com/R5pEALYZ9N</a></p>— Tall Blacks (@TallBlacks) <a href="https://twitter.com/TallBlacks/status/1686745733058232320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Japan and New Zealand will face off again on Friday night before New Zealand enters a pre-tournament training camp in Istanbul.

The Tall Blacks will then participate in the FIBA SuperCup against Canada, China and Germany ahead of group stage clashes with Jordan, Greece and the United States.

For the full report head to >> Game Recap: Tall Blacks vs Japan Friendly, Ota City.