The Tall Blacks have led another European basketball powerhouse for the majority of a match before losing in the final quarter as again turnovers cost the New Zealanders in a 79-85 loss to Lithuania.
Kirk Penney led the way for New Zealand with 26 points and seven rebounds while Corey Webster chipped in with 12 points. BJ Anthony also reached doubled figures.
While disappointed with the loss, assistant coach Paul Henare found plenty of positives as the team continues to build towards the World Cup in Spain.
"We had a good start, a positive start, we led most of the way right up until the last quarter, a few thing went against us, they got going and we made a few errors and we couldn't quite get across the line.
"There are some real positives to take out of the game, our rebounding was great, we beat a much much bigger team on the boards (41-27), but unfortunately turnovers got us with 23 on the night, there were too many errors at important times."
