Hoops Habit
Fansided

FIBA World Cup Day 6: New Zealand Survives, Advances

By Phil Watson

Petteri Koponen's final shot was off the mark and New Zealand survived with a 67-65 win over Finland Thursday and a berth in the round of 16 at the FIBA World Cup. (FIBA photo)
Petteri Koponen's final shot was off the mark and New Zealand survived with a 67-65 win over Finland Thursday and a berth in the round of 16 at the FIBA World Cup. (FIBA photo) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
Petteri Koponen's final shot was off the mark and New Zealand survived with a 67-65 win over Finland Thursday and a berth in the round of 16 at the FIBA World Cup. (FIBA photo)
Petteri Koponen’s final shot was off the mark and New Zealand survived with a 67-65 win over Finland Thursday and a berth in the round of 16 at the FIBA World Cup. (FIBA photo) /

New Zealand held off a furious rally by Finland in the fourth quarter of their final game of the group stage Thursday at Bilbao, posting a 67-65 victory to advance to the elimination stage of the FIBA World Cup.

The Kiwis led 57-45 entering the fourth quarter of the matchup that would likely mean a berth in the round of 16. The winner of the New Zealand-Finland game would advance as the fourth seed out of

More from International Basketball

Group C with a U.S. win over the Ukraine later in the day.

Finland closed to within three points with 1:43 to go when Petteri Koponen splashed a 3-pointer and got to within a single point, 66-65, on two free throws by Sasu Salin with 1:12 left.

Tuukka Kotti missed a jumper with 50 seconds to go that would have given Finland the lead, but Kirk Penney of New Zealand turned the ball over on a pass that was stolen by Shawn Huff.

Koponen missed a potential go-ahead layup with five seconds to go and Mika Vukona grabbed the rebound for the Kiwis and was fouled.

He missed the first attempt with four seconds remaining but hit the second to put New Zealand up 67-65. Koponen missed a game-tying jumper at the buzzer.

When Ukraine lost to the U.S. 95-71 later on Thursday, it clinched a spot in the elimination round for the Kiwis. (For more on the U.S. victory, click here.)

Isaac Fotu, who plays collegiately at Hawaii, had a huge game for New Zealand with 18 points and eight rebounds. Penney added 11 points. Vukona finished with 12 rebounds and scored five points and Lindsay Tait finished with five assists and six points.

Gerald Lee led Finland with 17 points and had five rebounds. Koponen went for 13 points and Huff had 10. Salin and Erik Murphy of the Cleveland Cavaliers each had five boards.

New Zealand (2-3) advances to play Lithuania, the top seed out of Group D, on Sunday in Barcelona. Finland finishes with a 1-4 record, last in Group C.

Here is the rest of the action from Day 6, broken down by group: