Basketball: Tall Blacks stun France

The Tall Blacks have knocked over the highly-ranked French in a big upset at the world basketball championships in Turkey.

It gives New Zealand their third win in the group phase.

The Tall Blacks converted a second quarter blitz into a 82-70 win over France at Izmir today to maintain their winning momentum after victories over Lebanon and Canada in the past two days.

They had opened their campaign with successive losses to reigning world champions Spain and Lithuania before their fortunes changed for the better.

Today's result left them third in group D and facing a second round knockout match against Russia on Tuesday morning (NZT) where victory would propel them into the quarterfinals.

New Zealand were already assured of a berth in the second round irrespective of today's result.

After a slow start when trailing 17-20 at the end of the first quarter, the New Zealanders broke the game open in the second period when restricting the French to just five points.

They swamped the French 22-5 for the quarter to snatch a decisive 39-25 lead by halftime, something they protected in the third stanza which they won 19-18.

The French refused to go away and chipped away at a 14-point deficit in the last quarter, sneaking to within six points at 66-72 late in the match after Tall Blacks guard Phill Jones was called for his fifth foul.

Veteran Pero Cameron then settled New Zealand's nerves with a sky hook basket to make it 74-66 with 46 seconds remaining, and shooting guard Kirk Penney made the game safe with 20sec to go by a attracting a foul while sinking a three-pointer.

Thomas Abercrombie capped the win with a three-pointer on the buzzer, which proved crucial because it saw New Zealand pip France for third place on points differential after these two plus Spain ended the group phase locked on eight points, behind group winners Lithuania.

Penney led the New Zealand scoring statistics for the fifth successive match with 25 points while Mika Vukona was next best with 15.

STANDINGS AFTER POOL PLAY:

(Top 4 teams in each Group progress to the Round of 16)

Group A

1. Serbia 9
2. Argentina 9
3. Australia 8
4. Angola 7
5. Germany 7
6. Jordan 5

Group B

1. US 10
2. Slovenia 9
3. Brazil 8
4. Croatia 7
5. Iran 6
6. Tunisia 5

Group C

1. Turkey 10
2. Russia 9
3. Greece 8
4. China 6
5. Puerto Rico 6
6. Ivory Coast 6

Group D

1. Lithuania 10
2. Spain 8
3. New Zealand 8
4. France 8
5. Lebanon 6
6. Canada 5

- NZPA