The Tall Blacks edged the Philippines 69-66 to get their first win of Fiba World Cup qualifying in front of a raucous crowd in Manila yesterday.
CJ Perez got the Philippines off to a rapid start, scoring the first 10 points before heading to the bench with two personal fouls.
The Tall Blacks called an early time-out and rallied.
Max Darling and Alex McNaught connected from outside and the visitors went into the break leading 25-21.
The Tall Blacks extended their lead through a 7-1 run to start the second quarter.
Taylor Britt connected with a three-pointer and pushed the lead out to double figures for the first time.
The Philippines ground their way back into the quarter and went into halftime level on 37 points.
The home side carried that momentum into the opening moments of the third quarter.
The Tall Blacks replied thanks to a three-pointer from Jordan Ngatai, who is closing in on 100 games for his country.
Centre Tyrell Harrison slammed the ball in to help the Tall Blacks regain the lead.
Reuben Te Rangi and McNaught knocked down the Tall Blacks’ seventh and eighth triples of the evening, as the Tall Blacks pushed their lead out to 10 again.
But as they did in the third quarter, the Philippines got off to a hot start, scoring four points in the opening 38 seconds of the fourth period.
The Philippines had an opportunity to send the game to overtime in the dying seconds, but missed a three-point attempt on the buzzer.
Tall Black’s coach Judd Flavell’s message after the game was pretty simple.
"We came here to get the win, and we got the job done," he said.
The Tall Blacks kept star Philippines player Justin Brownlee to just four points.
"He’s given us the business before and in recent games, so he was a large focal point for us," Flavell said.
"I thought that went a long way for us defensively tonight," The victory against the Philippines marks the third in a row, and the Tall Blacks’ first victory of the qualifiers after two close losses to Australia in window 1 of the qualifiers.
The Tall Blacks will now head to Guam for the final game of window 2 tomorrow. — Allied Media
