Tall Blacks 71
Canada 61
New Zealand eliminated Canada from the basketball world championship with a 71-61 win at Izmir, Turkey, today.
The Tall Blacks recorded their second successive win after overpowering Lebanon yesterday to retain their hopes of advancing past the group stage.
They need to finish no lower than fourth in group D to qualify for the second round and their two win-two loss record presently leaves them fourth ahead of their last group match against France tomorrow.
Canada, who have yet to post a win, did not fully extend the New Zealanders, who were again led by outstanding shooting guard Kirk Penney, who topscored with 18 points.
New Zealand coach Nenad Vucinic admitted the match had few highlights for those wanting to see some style.
"It wasn't a pretty game," Vucinic said.
"But those pressure, must-win games for both teams are never really pretty."
Both sides battled in a scrappy first quarter, with New Zealand taking an 11-8 lead despite committing five turnovers in the first five minutes before using a 8-0 run lead 39-28.
Canada went to the line consistently in the third quarter but only made seven of 13 free throws. They closed the gap to 47-43 on a layup by Ryan Bell with less than 10 minutes remaining but couldn't finish off the comeback.
Penney had more than able support, with Casey Frank scoring 14 points - including our-of-five field goals and all four free throws - while Thomas Abercrombie hauled in 10 rebounds.
- NZPA
