Hungry Jack's NBL
Tall Blacks pass first Olympic test
Written By
NBL.com.au
The New Zealand Tall Blacks, led by a strong contingent of NBL stars, have kept their dream of an Olympic berth alive, winning the first of a string of key qualifying games.
Needing to finish in the top two in their group to advance to the next stage, the Tall Blacks defeated Croatia by four points, overcoming a five-point deficit at three quarter-time.
Melbourne United’s Shea Ili registered six straight points in a low-scoring final quarter to give his team the lead late, rewarded Player of the Game honours for his 18-point haul in the 90-86 win.
NBL Free Agent Corey Webster scored 21 on the night, while new Sydney signing Izayah Le’Afa hit 14 and Phoenix recruit Tom Vodanovich impressed with 11.
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The Tall Blacks shot at a strong clip from the outside, with 13-of-30 from the three-point line, at 43 per cent.
Croatia has already qualified for the next phase in Group A of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Greece, but New Zealand will need to ensure they win against Slovenia, or keep the margin to less 10 points in defeat to advance.
A win would see them top the group.
From there, the top two finishers from Group A face the top two finishers from Group B (Dominican Republic (1-1), Egypt (0-1) and Greece (1-0)) in the Semi Finals.
Only the winner of the overall Final will advance to the Olympics.
The Tall Blacks face Slovenia on Friday morning at 12.30am AEST.
New Zealand Tall Blacks schedule
Friday, July 5 – v Slovenia – 12.30am AEST
Semi Finals and Final to be played on July 6 and 8, with times TBC.
