Tall Blacks veterans pull through against Gilas in Manila
MANILA (Philippines) – The veterans of New Zealand stepped up to win an important game against the Philippines, 88-63, in the Philippines bubble.
Five players scored 10 points or more for New Zealand, led by Tomvodanovich who had 20 points on 9 shot attempts. The other double-digit scorers were Dion Prewster (20 points), Rob Loe (15 points), Taane Samuel (12 points), and Ethan Rusbatch (10 points). The Tall Blacks will have one more game in Window 2 against India tomorrow where they will aim to stay undefeated.
The Philippines’ star-studded duo of Thirdy Ravena and Dwight Ramos combined for 41 points, while Robert Bolick added another 10 points.
Turning Point: The Philippines didn’t score a field goal in the second quarter until the halfway mark of the quarter was passed. The score was still close, but the physicality of the game was ramping up and to the favor of New Zealand.
Game hero: Vodaovich and Low both had double-doubles, while Prewster had 7 rebounds and 6 assists to go with his 20 points, but it was Taane Samuel who provided and extra boost for the Tall Blacks. Samuel made all of his 5 field goal attempts which included 2 three-pointers, while also collecting 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
Samuel mentioned that he was a bit fired up to be playing in the Philippines as he had also played here during his collegiate career.
Stats don’t lie: The missed free-throws were painful for the Philippines. They had to trouble getting to the line, where they had 23 attempts, but they only converted that in to 10 points. Ravena (2-6 from the free-throw line) said himself in the postgame press conference that this was an area that he needed to improve on, but his teammates will also have to focus on that in the next windows as well.
Bottom line: New Zealand proved to be strong both physically and mentally to be able to win in a tough environment against a tough opponent like the Philippines. They are now the team to beat in the Group as the undefeated team, but have to stay focused so that status doesn’t change in the upcoming game tomorrow against India.
The Philippines will have time to regroup and solve their issues, and they also don’t have to stress too much about qualifying for the World Cup as they are co-hosts of the main event. Still, they had the opportunity to see their flaws a bit more clearly in today’s loss, so they have a better idea of what to work on.
They said: “It feels good, it always feels good to put on the black jersey. I love it. Playing for your country, it’s another level of excitement.” – Taane Samuel, New Zealand
“It was very big game. Anytime you play the home team in their country, it’s always big but bigger here in the Philippines where the sport is very big. There was a pretty good turnout in the crowd tonight, which we loved to see. I felt both teams were in it, and I’m glad the way our team finished the game.” – Pero Cameron, New Zealand head coach
“We really fought and gave it our all. Give kudos to New Zealand for fighting as well, but I’m more proud of how the team responded. We were physical as well, we didn’t back down.” – Thirdy Ravena, Philippines
“It’s hard to be happy right now. It doesn’t mean anything if you score 40 points then lose the game. I feel we could have beat this team, that’s the frustrating part.” – Thirdy Ravena on scoring 23 points
FIBA
