Tall Blacks miss gold

Paul Henare is blocked. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Australia: 81 (Luke Kendall 17, Sam McKinnon 16, Jason Smith 16)
New Zealand: 76 (Pero Cameron 22, Aaron Olson 13, Paul Henare 11)
Halftime: 36-37

The glammed up Australian Opals arrived courtside wearing their gold medals -- and eventually their male counterparts stumbled on to the catwalk, despite New Zealand's shattered Tall Blacks making them work for every inch of their Commonwealth Games basketball bling here tonight.

New Zealand were given little chance of getting within touching distance of the gold medal but excruciatingly they had the ultimate prize within reach until Luke Kendall and Tony Ronaldson nailed free throws to give the favourites a panic-stricken 81-76 win at the Multi Purpose Arena.

While the game was wrapped up from the free throw line, the killer blows were administered seconds earlier when Boomers skipper Jason Smith drained the second of two quickfire three's as the Australians again whittled down the slender Tall Blacks advantage.

In an agonising final 10 minutes for the few black-clad fans in the arena, the Tall Blacks again built a handy advantage before the Boomers held their composure to collapse over the line.

New Zealand led 73-69 with 3min 46sec remaining but it seemed an eternity as both sides got the jitters on the run home.

A Paul Henare turnover preceded Mark Worthington's three-pointer shaving the margin to one, and when Tony Rampton missed two free throws the momentum swung to the home side as Sam McKinnon nailed a brace from the free throw line.

Inspirational skipper Pero Cameron, who notched a game high 22 points, made another three to put underdogs ahead but when he made a rare miss from long range the Boomers were able to regroup and hold on in a fever pitch atmosphere.

When the Boomers sprang to a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter it seemed the trans-Tasman clash was following an eerily familiar script.

The signs were worrying early for the outsiders as Olson and Cameron missed their first three-point attempts but the Tall Blacks go-to guys stepped up after a slow start to propel the New Zealanders into the contest.

Cameron, held scoreless in the opening period, sparked a resurgence with his first of five three-pointers which was never quelled until the dying seconds.

Leading 37-36 at halftime New Zealand extended their lead in the early in the third quarter but an 8-0 run invigorated the Boomers as they retook the lead 50-48.

Inevitably it was Cameron who stepped up again from long range to level the scores at 56-apiece before both sides traded baskets to set up a spine-tingling finish.

"I'm gutted for the New Zealanders," a shell shocked Tall Blacks head coach Tab Baldwin said before the medal ceremony.

"I'm proud of the guys ....but every time we got ahead they rallied."