-
Basketball - Source: Photosport -
Related
For the third straight game on their European Tour, the New Zealand Tall Blacks held a lead after three quarters - but for the first time, they held it.
Behind 35 points from shooting guard and captain Kirk Penney, the Tall Blacks defeated Portugal 98-91 on the first day of action at the Trentino Cup in Trento, Italy.
Unlike New Zealand's last outing against Estonia when he was held to three points in the second half, Penney poured in 23 points in the third and fourth quarters against Portugal as the Tall Blacks improved to 1-2 in their eight-game tour.
"It's a fantastic feeling to get a win," said point guard Michael Fitchett, who was one of the Tall Blacks to score in double figures.
"We put some points on the board as well, which we hadn't been doing. Scoring 98 points, that's double what we had been putting up previous, so that was good to see. And to get a win against a team like Portugal is great. We feel like they're a step up from Estonia.
Penney, who sat out much of the second quarter in foul trouble, hit 5-of-6 threes as the Kiwis shot a scorching 64.9 percent (37/57) from the field and 52.6 percent (10/19) on three-point attempts. The team also went 22-of-24 from the free-throw line.
"We shot the ball really really well," Fitchett said. "In the first half we hardly missed. We put up 50 points in that half and our defence was pretty good. We knew pretty much what they were going to do and were able to stick to the game plan pretty well.
"We executed pretty well and we got out and ran some transition. They were reluctant to push the ball. They ran a short bench and we thought they were a bit tired so we pushed it whenever we could."
Penney also had four rebounds and four assists but more important was the scoring support he got from teammates.
Meanwhile, the Tall Blacks next clash is against hosts Italy, another team attempting to qualify next month for the 2009 Eurobasket, on Monday at 6.30am (NZ time). Italy feature NBA players Andrea Bargnani (Toronto Raptors) and Marco Belinelli (Golden State Warriors), along with Daniel Hackett, an Italy-born former USA collegiate star at USC, and seasoned pros in the Italian Serie A.
