Basketball: Boomers too good in bruising series opener

AUSTRALIA 79 NEW ZEALAND 66

Australia completed phase one of their basketball revenge mission against New Zealand with a comfortable 79-66 victory in the opening test of the Oceania Olympic men's qualifying series in Bendigo, Victoria tonight.

The rebuilding Boomers were in control from the tip off at the Schweppes Centre, muscling the Tall Blacks off their stride while fashioning a vastly superior strike rate from the field.

The die was cast early for the Tall Blacks as they landed an abysmal 25 per cent of their attempts in the first and second quarters as a stifling defensive screen allowed little latitude.

In contrast the Boomers built an ultimately impregnable 19-point lead at halftime thanks to a more respectable return of 48.5 per cent.

The Boomers also regularly found the target from long range, netting twice as many three-pointers as the Tall Blacks.

Triple Olympian Shane Heal, who came out of retirement for this series, was in great touch, threading some pinpoint passes to top scoring forward Tony Ronaldson to finish off.

New Zealand point guard Mark Dickel did his best to stem the tide but the Boomers, smarting from their 2001 series loss in Auckland, were too authoritative across the boards.

Guard Kirk Penney led the Tall Blacks scoring with 22 points but no one else managed double figures.

Down 24-44 at halftime, the Tall Blacks staged a mini-revival from the start of the third quarter with a seven-point run to whittle away their halftime deficit before the Boomers cranked into life again.

A frenetic, physical encounter threatened to boil over midway through the third quarter when Tall Blacks forward Ed Book upended marker Chris Anstey off the ball in retaliation for an earlier hit.

Facing a 46-60 deficit in the final quarter the Tall Blacks battled desperately to reduce the margin but any advance was instantly negated as they were frequently caught on the break.

Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin was desperate for the team to make a statement in the opening test and now needs to rally the players and address their shooting accuracy to level the series in Geelong, south of Melbourne, on Wednesday.

Australia's victory extended their unbeaten home record against New Zealand to 15 games since 1971.

It was also their 34th win in 37 matches played between the trans-Tasman rivals.

The victory was especially sweet for Matthew Nielsen and Glen Saville, the only survivors from the Boomers shock loss two years ago.

The third test is in Melbourne on Thursday.

Australia 79 (Tony Ronaldson 19, Matthew Chris Anstey 12, Matt Nielsen 10, John Rillie 10)

New Zealand 66 (Kirk Penney 22, Ed Book 8, Mark Dickel 8, Tony Rampton 8).

Halftime 44-25.

- NZPA