Basketball: Jet-lagged Tall Blacks fade in final quarter

The New Zealand Tall Blacks have dropped the opening game of their eight-game European Tour to Estonia 58-49 in Tallinn this morning (NZT).

Shooting guard Kirk Penney scored a game-high 23 points but could not prevent a fourth-quarter offensive drought that saw the Tall Blacks falter after leading 45-43 at the end of the third spell.

Penney shot 9-of-18 from the field with five rebounds in 35 minutes to lead the Kiwis, who arrived in Estonia less than 48 hours before the game, following a draining 35-hour journey from New Zealand.

The Tall Blacks led 49-47 inside the final period but the travel fatigue caught up with them, and they were outscored 15-4 over the last 10 minutes.

In complete contrast, it was a third-quarter scoring run that put New Zealand in position for the win.

After trailing by eight points at halftime, the Kiwis started the third period with a 17-6 run to take a 35-32 lead, and were still ahead by two with a quarter to run, winning the quarter 27-17.

National Basketball League Rookie of the Year Thomas Abercrombie, getting the start at small forward in his international debut, was New Zealand's next-best scorer with eight points, to go with six rebounds in 22 minutes.

Forward Mika Vukona pulled down 12 rebounds and had four points, four assists and two steals, but could not prevent New Zealand losing the rebounding battle 48-37, including allowing the Estonians 21 offensive boards.

The Tall Blacks shot 19-of-56 from the field, including a sorry 3-of-20 on three-pointers, and 8-of-13 from the free-throw stripe, and had 18 turnovers for the game.

Every Tall Black, except Wellington Saints forward Leon Henry, saw game time, with debuts for Abercrombie, 17-year-old Junior Tall Blacks centre Rob Loe and Hawke's Bay point guard Jarrod Kenny. Loe had four points, three rebounds and a steal in 17 minutes.

The eight-match European tour begins with two matches against Estonia and is a build-up to the home-and-away Oceania championship series against Australia in August.

- NZPA