Te Rangi shows class as Tall Blacks end drought

For Reuben Te Rangi, Thursday night’s drought-breaking upset international Tall Blacks win over Australia’s Boomers in Brisbane was especially satisfying.

Te Rangi relishes every win he gets to be part of in the black singlet but this 108-98 Fiba Asia Cup qualifying boilover had connotations beyond your regular game of hoops.

The 25-year-old was returning to the Tall Blacks fold after missing last year’s World Cup campaign through a knee injury that ultimately required surgery. That was a painful omission after the hard-nosed forward had played a major role through the qualifying process.

It was also in the Nissan Arena gym where he plays his NBL hoops with the Brisbane Bullets in front of some fans who quite rightly raised an eyebrow this season when coach Andrej Lemanis shunted him well down the rotation.

Coming on top of Te Rangi’s exploits of 2018-19, when he was named the NBL’s Sixth Man of the

Year and Most Improved Player, it was a surprise to see the Kiwi’s stock fall so fast. On Thursday, he showed he is a much better player than that, with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting (4 of 7 from deep), snaring 6 boards and dishing out 5 assists.

The importance of the occasion was also not lost on Te Rangi. The Tall Blacks hadn’t beaten the

Boomers since 2009’s upset in Wellington and in Kiwi hoops legend Pero Cameron’s first game as head coach, there would assuredly no more fitting occasion.

‘‘That was pretty special,’’ Te Rangi said afterwards. ‘‘For a lot of us that is our first time beating Australia. Any time you can do that, we will take that opportunity.’’