Basketball: Penney hemmed as Tall Blacks thumped

An unforgiving schedule and the double teaming of prolific scorer Kirk Penney contributed to New Zealand's latest setback on their European basketball tour in Italy today.

The Tall Blacks ended their Trentino Cup with a whimper as Canada cruised to a 90-68 victory.

Penney was well contained by the Canadians and the sharp shooting guard was limited to just 14 points as the Tall Blacks again struggled to maintain a scoring momentum after the main break.

In contrast the Canadians were hot offensively, shooting 57 per cent from the field and an impressive 50 per cent from three-point range.

The Tall Blacks were hanging in at halftime at 34-38 but clocked off in the penultimate term as Canada outscored them 29-14 - the decisive break of the game.

"We definitely hit the wall in a number of ways," admitted Tall Blacks head coach Nenad Vucinic.

" We struggled with Canada's inside game at both ends of the court. They started the third quarter with a zone and we didn't adjust well to that."

Canada's lead ballooned to 19 points heading into the home stretch, an impregnable advantage.

Vucinic said a schedule of five games in six days finally took its toll, particularly on Penney who tired in the second half. "He's been the only one that's been playing big, big minutes ," he said.

"They were marking him pretty tight and he's in a position where he's marking their best player too."

Penney's three-point shooting emphasised his tough night struggles - he converted just two from nine and nailed just six for 15 from the field after entering the game with a 25.7 point tournament average.

Tom Abercrombie (12) was the other Tall Black to reach double figures.

The Tall Blacks now have a one-win four loss on their eight match tour.

They now head to Belgium for two matches before wrapping up their European trip against Finland on Monday.

Canada 90 (Andy Rautins 20, Levon Kendall 15) New Zealand 68 (Kirk Penney 14, Tom Abercrombie 12) Halftime: 38-34

- NZPA