Tall Blacks Thump Boomers

New Zealand have beaten Australia 100–78 securing the top spot in the Oceania rankings and a place at the 2010 World Basketball Championships. New Zealand’s 22-point margin – its largest-ever win over Australia – outweighed an earlier seven-point loss in Sydney and marked a coming of age for the unheralded young team. “These guys deserve this win,” Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic said. “No-one gave us any credit, no-one respected us. They thought because some of our top players were gone we were no good but we had better wins than this in Europe this year.”