Gyokchyan nearly finished with a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds. The emphatic part of that run was a 5-point sequence by Hayk Gyokchyan that lit the fire in the team on the way to the win. Turning point: Right out of the locker room, Lebanon took control of the game with 14 unanswered points to take the lead for good. The Tall Blacks had a big game from Asia Cup hero Tohi Smith Milner who had 17 points and 7 rebounds in the losing effort. Five other players scored at least 8 points for the Cedars as well. The big man led all scorers with 21 points. It was a big game for Ali Haidar who stepped up in the absence of Wael Arakji this window. New Zealand were never really blown out of the game, but they never gained enough traction in the to mount a run that would reclaim the lead. Lebanon came out of the halftime break with a point to prove and went on a 14-0 run, holding one of the best offensive teams in the Asian Qualifiers scoreless for nearly 4 full minutes. In the second half, it was an entirely different story. It also served as a bit of revenge as New Zealand had beaten Lebanon in Beirut back at the World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers, virtually knocking the Cedars out of World Cup qualification contention.īoth teams struggled on the offensive end in the early stages of the games, especially in the second quarter where New Zealand scored 15 points to Lebanon’s 13. A post shared by FIBA Basketball World Cup loss for New Zealand is also their first in the Asian Qualifiers.
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