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The Tall Blacks last-gasp Olympic qualifying attempt got off to a rocky start when they stuttered to a 49-73 loss against a talented Brazil side at a build-up tournament in Sao Paulo today. Less than two days after their two-day journey from Canberra, the under-strength NZ mens outfit faced a home team bolstered by NBA centres Nene Hilario and Anderson Varejao, and were immediately reminded of the harsh realities of international basketball. They got off to a positive enough start, with veteran Casey Frank hitting from the arc for an early lead. In this first competitive outing of the campaign, coach Nenad Vucinic opted for 32-year-old rookie Hayden Allen to fill Kirk Penneys vacant shooting guard spot and moved captain Mika Vukona into Tom Abercrombies small forward position, with Frank replacing Vukona at power forward. But once the game found some momentum, it swung overwhelmingly to the home team, who quickly built a double-figure advantage to lead 19-9 after 10 minutes. They proved especially hard to stop around the basket and established their dominance despite misfiring from long distance (0/8) and the free-throw line (3/8) through the first half. Without Penney and Abercrombie their two best outside threats in recent seasons New Zealand looked like a team trying to figure out who would score. No one managed to find the basket more than once before halftime and, as a team, they shot just 25% from the field to trail 16-33 at the break. Their cause wasnt helped when Brazilian guard Marquinhos finally connected from afar, sparking an 8-2 run to start the third quarter. The Tall Blacks found a brief response from the unlikeliest of sources teenage debutant Tai Webster, who produced a six-point flurry late in the period. They still lagged 32-54 entering the final stretch not helped by 17 turnovers but the Kiwis had managed as many points in the previous 10 minutes as they had in the entire first half. Leon Henry, Allen and Tait all provided treys in the final quarter, and after momentarily falling 30 points behind, New Zealand closed the game with a seven-point run to salvage some respectability. Webster emerged as the sides leading scorer with eight points, Frank had seven, while Pledger (six points/seven rebounds) and Tait (five points/seven rebounds/four assists) were other significant contributors. As a team, they converted only 37% from the field, turned the ball over 18 times just once in the final period though and probably conceded a few too many offensive boards (11) for their liking. Tomorrow, they face Greece 88-76 winners over Nigeria in the earlier game at 10am NZ time. Ultimately, theyre preparing for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at Caracas, Venezuela, where they must finish in the top three teams to secure one of the last spots available at London next month. Brazil 73 (Marquinhos 14, Machado 10) New Zealand 49 (Tai Webster 8, Casey Frank 7, Everard Bartlett 6, Leon Henry 6, Alex Pledger 6, Lindsay Tait 5, Hayden Allen 5, Jarrod Kenny 2, Jeremiah Trueman 2, Rob Loe 2) Q1 19-9 HT 33-16 (14-7) Q3 54-32 (21-16) Q4 73-49 (19-17) London 1908 Olympic Summer Games Basketball
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