Basketball: NZ close out U-19 champs with win

New Zealand closed out their run at the under-19 world basketball championship win a 62-54 win over Angola today.

The New Zealanders struggled their way past the Africans to finish 13th in the tournament at Auckland's ASB Stadium.

Guard Brook Ruscoe had his third 20-plus point game of the tournament with his haul of 20 , with four rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes, helping seal a second win on the trot.

"To go out and win two in a row is always nice," said captain Dion Prewster. "It's good to finish on a winning note."

Angola had sensed an upset when they closed within three points with a little under four minutes remaining, following a mini 7-0 run, but the door was slammed shut.

Ruscoe delivered assists as Prewster answered with a three from the wing, and centre Rob Loe, who finished with 15 points, dropped in a basket.

Then point guard Logan van Beek picked off a pass for a breakaway lay-up to stretch the lead back out to double digits.

Whenever Angola made a charge New Zealand were able to keep them at arm's reach.

Their offence lapsed in the third quarter with only 12 points, but Angola were worse, hitting on only five-of-19 field-goal attempts. A 10-point buffer going into the final quarter was eight at the buzzer.

New Zealand finished the tournament 2-3, with group D losses to Argentina (64-66), Croatia (72-79) and Kazakhstan (83-90) and wins over Syria (93-75) and Angola (62-54).

"I think we did really well," Prewster said.

`We didn't let ourselves down. We did want to do better but we did play some good basketball - well, the best we could anyway."

He said the team had also won respect from other nations.

The team head separate ways tomorrow, with Ruscoe, Prewster and Loe joining the Tall Blacks in camp on Auckland's North Shore next Tuesday.

- NZPA