A strong second quarter and impressive shooting performances from Reuben Te Rangi and Shea Ili have seen the Tall Blacks stun Australia 108-98 in last night's Asia Cup qualifying in Brisbane.
The win ended an 11-year drought against their trans-Tasman rivals and was also the first under new head coach Pero Cameron. It was also just their third win ever on Australian soil.
The Tall Blacks were spearheaded by Te Rangi and Ili in the contest with the duo scoring 21 points each.
Te Rangi scored on eight of his 14 shot attempts to finish the evening on 57 per cent shooting which included four-from-seven at three point range.
The 25-year-old also added six rebounds, five assists and a steal to his impressive performance.
Ili on the other hand made Australia pay at the free-throw line where he scored eight points from 10 attempts. He too a further six rebounds and five assists while also collecting two steals.
In contrast, Australia's top scorer on the evening was Todd Blanchfield who came up with 17 points - two less than a further two Tall Blacks with both Rob Loe and Jordan Ngatai contributing 19 points each to the New Zealand total as well.
Cameron said after the match he was proud of his team.
"There's nothing like being in the hot seat, I'm just so happy to be in the job," he said."You can see our guys are licking their lips to score and maybe he [Te Rangi] just has a little more to prove."
The Tall Blacks fell behind 31-27 in the first quarter but came back to win the final three.
That was spurred on by an impressive second quarter where they outscored Australia 25-15 to take a 52-46 lead into the break.
The lead then ballooned to 13 in the third quarter but Australia clawed their way back into the contest before the Tall Blacks closed out the game in the fourth quarter.
The Tall Blacks next play Guam this Sunday in Yigo.
SHARE ME