Tall Black Shea Ili was named man of the match against Croatia. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Tall Blacks have opened their Olympic qualifying tournament with a 90-86 victory over Croatia in Greece.
A strong final quarter from New Zealand sealed the win and dropped Croatia to 1-1 for the tournament.
The Tall Blacks went on a 13-2 run in the final 3 minutes and 46 seconds to edge ahead after Croatia had led for the majority of the Group A game in Piraeus.
In the closing minutes New Zealand turned to Corey Webster and Shea Ili to create points off the dribble and tie the game at 86-all with a minute left.
Croatia then dodged not one, but two bullets, as Webster missed a pair of wide open three-pointers from the left corner. However, the Tall Blacks got the ball back after a successful challenge, and the third time was a charm.
Ili's reverse layup made it 88-86 with 37 seconds left to play.
Mario Hezonja misfired on a three-pointer which would have restored Croatia in the lead and they sent Izayah Le'afa to the foul line. He remained composed to seal the win for the Tall Blacks from the stripe.
Ili was named man of the match with 18 points and four assists. Webster top scored with 21 points and Le'afa had 14 points.
For Croatia NBA player Ivica Zubac's had 29 points and 16 rebounds which set a new efficiency rating record in a FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament game with 43.
Tall Blacks captain Reuben Te Rangi said: "You don't stop a guy like Zubac, you maintain him. I think he had a hell of a game but I think we can keep up with teams on the offensive side but one thing we've been working on a lot is trying to win games on the defensive end and I think that showed in the fourth quarter."
New Zealand have a chance to win the group, if they beat NBA star Luka Doncic's Slovenia on Friday morning to make the semi-finals.
Coach Pero Cameron said his side was ready for this opportunity.
"We don't have massive names in our team but we love the challenge especially at the world stage. This is great for us this competition; we rarely get this opportunity and when we do we've been thinking about this for months."
The winner of the qualifying tournament in Greece will move on to the Olympics in Paris this month.
