Tall Blacks beaten by South Korea
South Korea lifted late to see off the Tall Blacks in their opening World Cup qualifier.
They led for most of the 86-80 win in Wellington on Thursday night, but had to withstand a late fightback from New Zealand before they could triumph.
As interesting as the first 37 minutes was it was the final three minutes where the match was decided.
Jung Hyun Lee looked as though he might have snatched victory when hitting a clutch three with 2.28 to go to put his side up
77-73. Fotu got a put-back two after that, but a dagger of a three from the right corner from the impressive Jeon Jun Beom pushed the lead back out to five with 1.05 to go.
Thomas Abercrombie answered with a corner three of his own, but again Korea fired back, this time via Oh Se Keun. The evergreen Mika Vukona nailed a two to keep his side in the hunt, but a driving layup from Choi Jun Yong with 11 seconds to go was the decisive basket.
Jun Beom led all scorers with 22 points on an incredibly accurate
8-11 shooting, including 6-8 of his three pointers.
It was that perimeter shooting where Korea dominated, finishing with 10-21 as a team. Overall, they shot 50 per cent from the field.
Jun Beom was ably supported by Se Keun, who had 14 points on
7-13 shooting and 10 rebounds. Corey Webster led the Tall Blacks with 16 points. His brother, Tai, started slowly, missing his first four shots, but recovered to score 14 points. It wasn’t all about the Websters though, as four other Tall Blacks had at least eight points.
New Zealand play relative minnows Hong Kong in Hong Kong on Sunday, while a strong China team is also in their group. The top three teams from the group progress to stage two.