The New Zealand E Blacks have beaten Guam in the eFIBA Season 2 Oceania Qualifier series, winning the first two games in a best-of-three series to punch their ticket to the eFIBA World Finals.
In Game 1, New Zealand topped Guam 60-42; led by Flumeto’s 26 points on 12/16 shooting. oHorsii added a 16 point, 13 rebound double-double along with his 5 assists, while ShotMoist added 10 points and 10 assists. oSxnseiii added 8 points, while RVO_KOPO with dominant on the boards with 16 rebounds to go with his 5 assists.
Game 2 saw New Zealand dominate offensively on their way to a 75-51 clinching victory, again led by Flumeto who scored 30 points on 13/19 shooting – including 4/8 from downtown – along with 5 assists. oSxnseiii added 19pts on 8/14 shooting, while ShotMoist had 14 points (5/7 shooting) and 8 assists. oHorsii added a 10 point, 10 rebound double-double along with 7 assists; RVO_KOPO filling up the boxscore with 17 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals.
New Zealand now proceeds to the first-ever in-person eFIBA World Finals 2023 – held in Jönköping, Sweden from 25-26 November as part of the DreamHack Winter event. Eight countries will compete in this eFIBA World Finals 2023, both to determine who is the world’s best national eFIBA team and who gets a share of the 50,000 Euro prize pool.
Basketball New Zealand CEO, Dillon Boucher says that this is a significant achievement for New Zealand basketball in the esports realm.
“To be one of eight nations to qualify for the eFIBA World Finals – in just our first year of competition – is huge and we’re excited to see these players go up against the world’s best in Sweden later this month,” says Boucher.
“Esports basketball is massive around the world, so it was an opportune time for BBNZ and NZ Esports to work together to get involved in this space; as we saw it was important for us to look at basketball in New Zealand – and how Kiwis engage in it – not just on the court or as spectators, but in the online gaming space as well.
“Best of luck to the New Zealand E Blacks and we hope the Kiwi public gets behind them on their exciting World Finals journey.”
Keep up to date with the E Blacks at https://nz.basketball/national-teams/e-blacks/
Game 1 Stats:
New Zealand 60 – Flumeto 26 PTS & 4 AST | oHorsii 16 PTS & 13 REB & 5 AST | ShotMoist 10 PTS & 10 AST | oSxnseiii 8PTS | RVO_KOPO 16 REB & 5 AST
Guam 42 – Yarbrods23 15 PTS & 7 REB | GUNIT_671 11 PTS & 9 AST
Quarter scores: 14-11, 33-19, 45-34, 50-42
Game 2 Stats:
New Zealand 75 – Flumeto 30 PTS & 5 AST | oHorsii 10 PTS & 10 REB & 7 AST | ShotMoist 14 PTS & 8 AST | oSxnseiii 19 PTS | RVO_KOPO 2 PTS & 17 REB & 8 AST & 4 STL
Guam 51 – Geezuus671 20 PTS & 12 REB & 6 AST | GUNIT_671 9 PTS & 8 AST
Quarter scores: 15-11, 35-28, 53-35, 75-51
2023 New Zealand E Blacks Squad
Flumeto – Jaxon Sutton
oHorsii – Cameron Fox
oSxnseii – Cameron Allan
RVO_KOPO – Jacob Winterstein
ShotMoist – Ethan Simmonds
thebrass_ – Nathan Tudreu (captain)
Coach Chrome – Enrique Alaniz (head coach)
