The Tall Blacks have booked their place in the next round of qualifying for the 2027 basketball World Cup after a perfect week at home, grinding out a double overtime win over the Philippines before running away from Guam in front of their own fans.
New Zealand needed the hard way and the easy way to get the job done. On Friday night at Spark Arena in Auckland they edged the Philippines 106-102 after two extra periods, a result that formally punched their ticket to the second round of the Asian qualifiers. On Monday at Eventfinda Stadium they made no such fuss, thumping a winless Guam side 129-75 to round out a clean sweep of the July window.
The win over the Philippines was the one that mattered, and it was the one that tested them. New Zealand trailed by four points with under three minutes left in regulation and looked in real trouble against a Gilas team chasing a result of its own. Tai Webster, on off the bench, steadied things with back to back layups to nudge the Tall Blacks in front, only for Juan Gomez de Liano to tie the game at 83 all with a three pointer and force overtime.
Neither side could pull clear in the first extra period, so the game went to a second. That was where New Zealand’s experience told. Sam Mennenga hit the go ahead basket to make it 104-102 with under a minute on the clock, and with the Philippines losing two of their most important players to fouls late, the Tall Blacks held on. Reuben Te Rangi top scored with 22 points, Shea Ili added 21 points and six assists, and Sam Waardenburg pulled down 10 rebounds to go with his 16 points.
Tall Blacks coach Judd Flavell said the composure of a settled group was the difference in a match that could have gone either way. “A game like that, the game could have gone either way,” Flavell said, as reported by FIBA. “We got an experienced group. And probably, the experience and composure are what got the job done down the stretch.”
The reward for surviving that arm wrestle was qualification, with New Zealand joining Australia in moving through to the second round and the Philippines also going through despite the loss. Guam, still without a win, were left out of the picture before they had even played their final game.
That took a lot of the tension out of Monday’s rematch, and the Tall Blacks treated it like a chance to enjoy themselves. They pulled clear early and never let up, spreading the scoring around the roster on the way to a 54 point win. Mennenga backed up his clutch effort against the Philippines with a game high 27 points and nine rebounds, while Taine Murray was busy from the outside with 25 points and five assists.
Carlin Davison filled the stat sheet with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, Te Rangi chipped in 12, and the big men Tohi Smith-Milner and Sam Timmins each finished with 11 points and close to double figures on the boards. It was the sort of balanced night that a coach files away, proof that the depth Flavell keeps talking about is real rather than a slogan.
For New Zealand basketball the result carries weight beyond the two games. The Tall Blacks have been in and out of World Cup contention over the past decade, and reaching a second round of qualifying keeps alive the hope of a return to the game’s biggest stage in 2027. The team has leaned on a core of experienced professionals, several of them plying their trade in Australia’s national league, and blended them with younger players getting their first real taste of international basketball at home.
Playing both games in Auckland was part of the appeal. A home window is a rare thing for the Tall Blacks, who often draw the short straw and travel long distances to face teams on their own courts. Turning that around, with a double overtime thriller in front of a home crowd followed by a comfortable win, is exactly the kind of week the programme wanted when the draw handed them a chance to host.
The clash with the Philippines in particular is the sort of contest that lingers, the kind that turns a casual viewer into a fan and gives the players belief heading into the tougher assignments to come. As RNZ Sport noted, the group has now shown it can win both the ugly games and the pretty ones.
The second round of qualifying will bring stronger opposition and higher stakes, and there is a long road still to travel before any talk of Qatar or the World Cup itself becomes real. For now, though, the Tall Blacks can enjoy a job well done, having taken care of everything in front of them without a home crowd going home disappointed.
What did you make of the Tall Blacks’ double overtime win over the Philippines, and do you think they can go all the way to the World Cup? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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