Australia's men's basketball team has joined the women at the London Olympics with a series-clinching 81-64 victory over New Zealand in Brisbane.
While the Opals qualified with a reasonably comfortable 19-point win, the Boomers needed a huge final quarter to post a 17-point victory in their game two at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
"We've worked a long time for this and every since we went to Beijing I know it's a massive focus for us to get back to this point and it feels pretty good," skipper Matthew Nielsen told Grandstand.
"New Zealand is a tough team and we've played a lot of good European teams in the last two months, and no one's competed with us like they have.
"It's credit to them and good luck to them."
Trailing by two points at the end of the third quarter and the game in the balance, the Boomers men dug deep in every facet of the game - rebounding, scoring and defence - to see off the stubborn Tall Blacks.
They limited New Zealand to just 10 points for the final term - the bulk of which came after Australia's sensational 23-3 run which secured passage to London in the most emphatic style.
Boomer Brad Newley top-scored for his side with 12 points.
But much of the fourth quarter energy came from centre Aleks Maric, who poured in seven of his nine points in the term along with three vital boards.
"We don't rely on anyone on every night, which is a good thing going into a game," Nielsen said.
"Because you know someone can have an off night and it's not going to affect your team."
Boomers coach Brett Brown was ecstatic with the evenness of his side's effort as it lifted when it needed to.
"We did it by committee, we did it with a team, it was a true team effort," he said.
"We've got depth, we've got toughness, we did it with our defence and our defence generated our offence in that (fourth) period.
"To finally close the deal and get it done is a fantastic accomplishment."
New Zealand skipper Kirk Penney led the way for his side with 17 points.
The Tall Blacks were not helped with starters Tom Abercrombie and Mika Vukona fouling out early in the fourth term, leaving the visitors undermanned and outmatched at the most crucial time.
"At the end of it, it seemed we just ran out of gas in the fourth quarter," New Zealand forward Casey Frank said.
"When you lose two of your three best players, with a handicap like that it's always going to be difficult for us."
The Tall Blacks also lost guard Corey Webster prior to game one after Basketball New Zealand called him home after confirmation he returned a positive drugs test during an NBL game last season.
Both Australian teams have now qualified for next year's Games, regardless of the results in game three in Sydney on Sunday.
New Zealand's teams have a second chance to qualify for London through worldwide repechage tournaments to be held next year.
ABC/AAP
Tags: basketball, sport, brisbane-4000, qld, australia, new-zealand First posted September 09, 2011 22:04:06
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