Timmins shines as Tall Blacks defeat Chinese Taipei

The New Zealand Tall Blacks, headlined by Sydney Kings' Sam Timmins, have used a dominant fourth-quarter showing to earn an 89-69 win over Chinese Taipei on Thursday night, in their first game of window one of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

With New Zealand leading by five heading into the final period, Ethan Rusbatch stepped up in big-time fashion; scoring 14 of his 26 points in the quarter on 5/5 shooting – including 4 triples – as part of a back-breaking 16-0 run that saw the Kiwis outscore Chinese Taipei 23-8.

In addition to Rusbatch’s heroics, Timmins added 16 points and nine rebounds; Tom Vodanovich with 16 of his own while setting a much-needed physical presence in the second half for New Zealand. Dan Fotu added 14 points and six boards, while Taylor Britt added eight.

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The Kiwis pulled out the win on the strength of their shooting and strong inside play – going 32/55 from the field at a 58 per cent clip while also hauling down 44 rebounds, compared to just 20 for the home team.

The win came despite a sloppy 22 turnovers from New Zealand, who also allowed Chinese Taipei to hit nine triples in the first half; two things the Kiwis will look to address before their next game against Hong Kong on Sunday.

For Chinese Taipei, Cheng Liu led the home team with 20 points on 8/16 shooting, while Chun Chi Lin and Cheng Lin had nine apiece; Sin-Kuan Lin adding eight.

After a strong shooting first half that saw them trailing by only 1 point in front of their home crowd, Chinese Taipei struggled in the second half as they were held by the Tall Blacks to just 21 points on 32 per cent shooting.

Tall Blacks head coach, Pero Cameron was impressed with the physical play and spirit shown by the Chinese Taipei squad on the floor.

“They played extremely hard, and early on I felt they were able to play a little bit tougher than us as a group, so I want to applaud them for that – and I also want to acknowledge my players for bringing home a tough win and closing out with a tough performance last night,” Cameron said

“When you represent your country and you put on the singlet, in our country we expect the best from you; it doesn’t matter if you’re a domestic player or an NBA player, if you put your hand up, this is a great honour to represent your country.

"So I just want to acknowledge the players from Chinese Taipei for doing this, great job – the fight was great, especially from their captain.”

The Tall Blacks now travel to New Zealand for the second game in window one of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, taking on Hong Kong on Sunday, February 25.