Tall Blacks make mincemeat of Indians

Games tomorrow (Manila time) 4 p.m. – Philippines vs India 9 p.m. – New Zealand vs Lebanon

New Zealand quickly flexed its muscles and ripped India, 100-47, to take the early lead in Group D of the FIBA Asia Cup yesterday at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Sam Mennenga fired 21 points to go with nine rebounds in 20 minutes of action while seven other Tall Blacks dropped 10 markers or more for the roaring start in the bracket that also includes the Philippines and Lebanon.

Joining Mennenga in the scoring parade were Taine Murray with 13, Taylor Britt with 12, and the quartet of Flynn Cameron, Krus PerrotHunt, Takiula Fahrensohn and Sam Timmins with 10 apiece.

The New Zealand-India game kicked off action in Group D with Gilas slated to launch its campaign versus the fancied Lebanese late last night.

It was total domination for the Tall Blacks, who made 45 percent of their shots against the youthful Indians, crashed the boards, 56 to 37, and netted 33 points off their opponents’ 26 turnovers. The Kiwis, who previously swept the Indians in their two games in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, began to pull away late in the first period via a 14-2 salvo.

From 18 points, the Tall Blacks extended the gap to 64-21 built around a 34-9 exchange in the second canto then went on to lead by as many as 55 at 100-45 before Arvind Muthu Krishnan scored the final layup of the match.

Krishnan topscored for India with 12 while Pranav Prince was the only other player in twin-digit production with 10.

“With the short preparation, we’re happy to get this win in the first game of the Asian Cup. It’s something we can build on,” said NZ coach Pero Cameron.

The Tall Blacks play the Lebanese tomorrow while the Indians meet the Filipinos in their second assignment.