Basketball: Peak too high for Tall Blacks

Sir Edmund Hillary took his place in the crowd at the Telstra Clear Pacific Events Manukau for the first basketball test to be played in this arena. The Tall Blacks, too, were facing an Everest if they were to get back into this Oceania Championships three-match series. One down after the 13-point beating they took at Waitakere on Wednesday, the Tall Blacks needed Sir Ed's inspiration.

However, despite a fourth-quarter comeback that looked like it could make tomorrow's third test in Dunedin a decider, the Boomers played the final two minutes almost flawlessly to wrap up the series.

"They made tough plays when it counted," NZ coach Tab Baldwin said. "I can't say anything negative about our guys. I just have to give them [Australia] a lot of credit."

It was a mutual respect-a-thon following the match, with Boomers coach Brian Goorjian saying he had nothing but admiration for the way the Kiwis came back.

"I don't think the score was indicative of the game. We were very fortunate. New Zealand don't get the credit they deserve, they're tough."

Goorjian said victory came down to "great plays by great players down the stretch".

Baldwin has been lobbying for New Zealand ref Dallas Pickering to be taken off the panel and he wouldn't have changed his mind last night but was coy about saying so. "I've tried in the most gentlemanly way possible," he said. He also instructed his players to play to the edge and "push the boundaries".

"We didn't take a backward step," Goorjian said. "We can bump and grind with the best of them and they're the best of them."

The Tall Blacks put up more shots, again, but could not match Australia's efficiency.

Glen Saville topped all scorers with 20, while Pero Cameron had 16 for the Blacks, 11 of them in a frenetic first quarter.

Dillon Boucher led the rebounders with 11 and added seven steals.

Australia now has preferential seeding for next year's world championships in Japan

There were three attributes the Tall Blacks were going to have to display to gain parity, or better, with the Boomers: get off to a good start, play with desperation that befitted their situation and establish an inside game.

The first two they largely achieved. The Tall Blacks scrapped and clawed their way to a 20-18 first-quarter lead on the broad back of Pero Cameron's two for two three-point shooting and 11 points overall.

But they were unable to establish any position inside early, with Tony Rampton, Craig Bradshaw and Ed Book all struggling against the Australian tall timber.

The good start soon fizzled as the Tall Blacks were continually forced to pull the trigger from distance. The phenomenal 80 per cent success they found from three-pointland was never going to last.

The desperation continued, though.

Phill Jones and Dillon Boucher's quick hands were making it difficult for the Australians to get into transition and Jones' close attention to Nielsen was clearly riling the Australian.

The Tall Blacks were drowning under a barrage of fouls and by the half had slipped behind by five, 29-34.

The second half started ominously for the Tall Blacks as the previously quiet Jason Smith started to get some open looks.

Rampton carried the fight, playing some of his finest minutes in a New Zealand uniform.

New Zealand were 10 points down at three-quarter time but that word desperation came to the fore again. Aaron Olsen, Mark Dickel, Jones and Boucher all made huge plays and with 3m 30s left the Tall Blacks had clawed back the deficit to one. At three minutes they were up by one.

That was as close as they came to scaling this mountain. The Boomers made a series of smart plays down the stretch that even Sir Ed must have appreciated.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY