Penney helps New Zealand oust Canada
September 1, 2010
IZMIR, Turkey (AP)—Kirk Penney scored 18 points to help New Zealand eliminateCanada from the basketball world championship Wednesday with a 71-61 win.
Jevohn Shepherd led Canada with 15 points but it wasn’t enough to prevent afourth straight loss. Canada plays Spain in its last Group D game on Thursday,but is guaranteed to finish in the bottom two and miss out on the knockoutround.
“It wasn’t a pretty game,” New Zealand coach Nenad Vucinic said. “Butthose pressure, must-win games for both teams are never really pretty.”
That was true from the get-go. Both teams struggled in a scrappy firstquarter, with New Zealand taking an 11-8 lead despite committing five turnoversin the first five minutes.
New Zealand used an 8-0 run to go ahead 39-28.
Canada was able to get to the line consistently in the third quarter butonly made seven of 13 free throws. They closed the gap to 47-43 on a layup byRyan Bell with 9:15 left in the game, but couldn’t finish off the comeback.
“I feel like the last few games have taken a toll,” Canada coach LeoRautins said. “It’s like we were running in quicksand.”
Jevohn Shepherd led Canada with 15 points, and Joel Anthony(notes) of the MiamiHeat had 13.
Casey Frank scored 14 points—making four-of-five field goals and all fourfree throws—to help New Zealand keep alive its chances of making the knockoutround in Istanbul.
The Kiwis play France on Thursday.
Canada player Andy Rautins(notes) of the New York Knicks was sent back to New Yorkto have a bruised knee examined to make sure he’s ready for the NBA team’supcoming training camp.
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Basketball 10 today!
