Tall Blacks advance to semi-final of FIBA Asia Cup after comeback win

The New Zealand Tall Blacks have booked their spot in the semi-final stages of the FIBA Asia Cup following a drama-filled 20-point come from behind victory over Lebanon in Jeddah.
New Zealand trailed by 21 points in the first half and were still 10 behind (68-58) early in the fourth before eventually prevailing 90-86.

In front of a raucious Lebanese dominated crowd Mojave King’s back-door cut to the basket would lead to an easy reverse lay, and the opening points on the game. Lebanon’s Ali Mansour would answer quickly with a triple. Zeinoun’s second triple would send the Lebanese crowd into a frenzy, as they started the game on a 12-2 run.

Maxwell Darling (196-F-2000, agency: Octagon Europe) broke the Tall Blacks drought with a pair of free throws, as they looked to stem the flow of Lebanese points.

Zeinoun would knock a deep 30-foot triple, and the Lebanese crowd erupted once more. Lebanon would continue to ride the wave, racing out to a 32-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, droppingsix triples in the process.

Darling would take the game to the Lebanese at the start of the second, with four quick points to begin the Tall Black fight back. Carlin Davison also bringing plenty of energy, seemingly everywhere on the floor.

Britt and King knocked down back to back buckets for the Tall Blacks as they began the quarter 9-3, cutting the Lebanese lead to 14, still with more work to do.

Darling would be the first Tall Black in double figures with a tough finish at the bucket, Tall Blacks down 13.

King’s transition dunk would bring the Tall Blacks as close to eleven, before Lebanon would push their lead back out to 15 before the close of the quarter for a 45-30 lead. The Tall Blacks left to rue first half struggles from outside the arc, going 0/11 from 3-point land.

But it wouldn’t be long into the second half where Tohi Smith-Milner would hit the Tall Blacks first triple of the night.

The quarter would be a back-and-forth affair, as the Tall Blacks and Lebanon would trade blows, Lebanon holding a steady 15-point lead through the first 5 minutes of action.

Maxwell Darling’s corner trey would take him up to 18 points on the night, as the Tall Blacks crept closer. King knocked down a triple and the Tall Blacks were within single digits for the first time since the first quarter.

Smith-Milner’s And-1 would close the margin even further. As the Lebanese attacker streaked out to the open floor, Flynn Cameron would hustle back for a LeBron-esque chasedown swat, before converting down the other end for two of his own. All of a sudden, momentum swinging strongly towards the Tall Blacks as they closed the gap to four points.

Lebanon holding a six point lead heading into the final quarter, but momentum was strongly in the Tall Blacks favour with ten minutes to play.

It was the Lebanese pulling out at the beginning of the fourth, re-establishing a ten-point lead in the opening minute and a half.

A Davison pass found a cutting King, followed by another Smith-Milner triple, and with Britt finishing through traffic the Lebanese lead was cut to five.

A pair of Cameron free throws, and a trey ball from King tied the score at 72 with a little under four to play.

It was a King And-1 that would give New Zealand their first lead since the opening basket of the game.

A Taine Murray corner three made it a 5 point lead and although Lebanon knocked down tough shots in the final minute the New Zealand comeback was complete.

The Tall Blacks advancing through to the semi-final against China on Saturday.

Coach Judd Flavell with his post-game comments about a game of two halves.

“Firstly, I think Lebanon in the first quarter could do no wrong. There’s a lot we could’ve corrected, but we didn’t and they made us pay.”

Lebanon shooting the lights out from deep in the first with six made triples, with Coach Flavell knowing his team had to make adjustments heading into the second.

“I think the mindset was to get to the rim and still back yourself to shoot the ball when it’s there. You’ve got to play on the front foot, and Lebanon taught us that lesson in the first quarter, and we were able to turn things around. I’m very proud of our group.”

One of the many standouts from tonight’s quarter-final was Maxwell Darling, who Flavell praised for his huge effort, calling it his best game in a Tall Blacks jersey as he posted 18 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

Darling echoing Coach’s thoughts a contrasting game.

“It was a tale of two halves. As soon as we got some stops and rebounds, got out and ran the scoreboard told the rest of the story.”

The dramatic 20-point turnaround for the Tall Blacks will see the match-up with China, who also won a tight tussle against Korea earlier in the day.

Tall Blacks 90 (King 23p, 3a, Darling 18p, 9r, Smith-Milner 13p, 6r, Cameron 12p, 3a, Davison 9p, 6r, 5a, 4s)defeat Lebanon 86 (Lawson 24p,13r, Gyokchyan 21p, 5r, 4a).