The New Zealand men's basketball team has scored an 80-77 upset win over Russia in the final of the Stankovic Cup in China.
The win was a reversal of four days previous where Russia had narrowly won.
It was the fourth game in as many days at the tournament which is the start of a long road to Olympic qualifying against Australia next month.
The victory earns the Tall Blacks and Basketball New Zealand 36 thousand dollars, of which the players get the majority share.
Assistant coach Chris Tupu says they improved during the tournament and the win is great.
The top scorer for the Tall Blacks was once again Kirk Penney who finished with 30 points after compiling 15 in the first half on the back of three three-pointers. Mika Vukona had 12 at half time and 15 in total while Tom Abercrombie scored 16 for the game.
The Tall Blacks went out to an early 17-9 lead, although the Russians had a late run of nine points to finish the first quarter 18-17 ahead... they led by 9 at half time and 6 at three-quarter time.
Penney and Abercrombie were named in the tournament all-star tournament five.
The Tall Blacks now fly to Italy for a camp before going to a four-nation tournament in Macedonia and another in Turkey.
