Basketball: Pledger tips game Tall Blacks' way in dying second

A game-winning basket from centre Alex Pledger with 0.5 seconds remaining lifted New Zealand to an 83-81 win over Belgium in a men's basketball international in Antwerp yesterday.

Pledger took an assist from point guard Lindsay Tait under the basket and flipped the shot in to complete a stirring fourth quarter comeback for the Tall Blacks.

After Tait made one-of-two free throws with 16.5s on the clock, Belgium, who led by as many as 17 points in the second quarter, tied the scores at 81-81.

With 7s and no timeouts remaining, forward Mika Vukona pushed the ball up court, penetrated and passed to Tait in the corner, and as the defence rotated on him he found Pledger open under the hoop.

"It was a pretty good feeling," 2.13m Pledger said.

"It's the first time I've ever made a game-winning shot before."

Pledger finished with eight points and five rebounds while Vukona came up large in the fourth quarter. He closed the game with 10 points in the final period, including a pair of threes, the last giving the Tall Blacks their first lead since early in the opening quarter at 69-68 with four minutes left.

Vukona collected a double double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, helping New Zealand win a close rebounding battle, and also took ball-handling responsibility late in the game.

Shooting guard and captain Kirk Penney topscored with 22 points, 21 of those in the second half.

"We put a really good game together today," Tall Blacks head coach Nenad Vucinic said after his young team registered their second win in seven outings in Europe.

"It's very encouraging. It's not really easy to get recognition for the level we're playing at over here.

"Defensively we executed very well. It was at the level it needs to be to play in international basketball."

The Tall Blacks play the final game of their eight-match tour against Finland in Vantaa on Monday morning (NZT)

- NZPA