3×3 Tall Blacks Triumph with Bronze Medal Finish; Tall Ferns Show Resilience and Promise for the Future
A young 3×3 Tall Blacks team has impressed at the 3×3 FIBA Asia Cup in Singapore, and put the world on notice following a bronze-medal performance.
The team of Aidan Tonge, Christian Martin, Te Tuhi Lewis and Zach Hannen battled their way through pool play with dominant victories over Vietnam (21-15) and Qatar (17-15), en route to setting up a quarter-final match-up with India.
Te Tuhi Lewis was particularly impressive during pool play, tallying 10 points in both the teams wins.
A long, athletic Indian side posed a great threat to the 3×3 Tall Blacks chances of advancing further – but those threats would quickly extinguished by one of the best team shooting displays of the entire tournament.
After going down by two in the first minute and a half of the game, the Tall Blacks drained four 2-pointers in the space of 55 seconds to take a huge 10-4 lead. Lewis and Christian Martin each knocking down two from the land of plenty, before Zach Hannen decided to get in on the action by draining two of his own.
The team went ballistic, shooting the deep ball with ease and tallying a ridiculous 8-14 from outside.
That standout shooting display enough to earn them a 21-11 victory, perhaps the most dominant win of the weekend.
Next up, a meeting with old foes, Australia.
The 4x FIBA Asia Cup champion Gangurrus were always going to be a tough task for this young, but exciting Tall Blacks squad.
A back-and-forth opening few minutes saw proceedings locked up at five-a-piece before Te Tuhi Lewis drain his second outside shot of the game, giving the Kiwi’s a small advantage. Zach Hannen followed suit not long after, draining back-to-back two-pointers, opening up an 12-8 lead over the Australians.
Step up, Dillon Stith for the Gangurrus.
Stith, who was monterous all game, took it upon himself to wrestle the game back the way of the men in gold, by knocking down a huge two-point shot to edge his side in front 15-14.
More back and forth hoops pursued, with a Te Tuhi Lewis two locking the scores at 19-19 with under a minute to go.
Again, step up Dillon Stith.
Stith capping off his dominant 13 point, 8 rebound performance by scoring at the basket twice in as many possessions, to take the win and drop the Tall Blacks out of gold medal contention.
It would’ve been easy for the New Zealanders to drop their heads in the bronze medal match, alas, they would not.
An outstanding overall team performance would see them take down the number three seeded Japanese side, and take home the bronze.
3×3 Tall Blacks Coach, Piet van Hasselt, absolutely thrilled with the way his young team proved themselves amongst such fierce competition.
“We couldn’t be prouder of the efforts from the team. They are young and hungry to succeed as a unit. They represented their whānau and New Zealand well. The guys were very coachable, played hard every possession and instilled belief and confidence in each other.
They were committed to our systems, built great habits and demonstrated our values on and off the court.
We led the tournament in 2PT% (38%) and attempts – a key part of our approach. Nothing in 3×3 happens by chance, the boys made it happen. They displayed cohesion and consistency, improving as a unit across the three preparation games and during the Asia Cup.”
The 3×3 Tall Blacks, the youngest by average age in the entire FIBA Asia Cup competition, a team only going to continue to rise.
Te Tuhi Lewis was selected to this year’s tournament team with 8.8 points per game and 55% from outside, marking him as a 3×3 prospect to keep a watchful eye on into the future.
“Te Tuhi exemplified the shooter role on our team, taking the looks we were hunting and helping set others up as well. He quickly implemented work-ons we discussed in our film sessions and like everyone in this team, has a big future in 3X3.
Aidan is a tremendous leader and is always a key cog to our success, holding his own against some of the best bigs in Asia. He is our coach on the floor and connects everyone.
Zach’s defensive pressure was phenomenal and he proved on the last day that his shot making can push NZ to success.
Christian’s International debut was sensational and shouldered the load when called upon to demonstrate his versatility.
We are looking forward to the U23 Nations League campaign to continue to build NZ 3X3 as we keep an eye on preparation for the Commonwealth Games in 2026 and our long term goals of the 2028 and 2032 Olympics.”
A tough set of circumstances meant the 3×3 2degrees Tall Ferns never really got to show their full potential this time round.
Eva Langton’s clutch performance in the dying stages of their opening pool game against the first seeded Chinese side, saw the wāhine claim an outstanding 18-17 victory.
However, the win would come at an unfortunate cost, as Kaylee Smiler would be ruled out of the team’s final pool game against Korea due to injury.
Battling it out in 35-degree Singaporean heat with only three troops was always going to be a tough ask, and although the 2degrees Tall Ferns fought till the end, they were outdone 18-9 by the Koreans.
Following China’s win over Korea, a three-way tie in the pool meant the 2degrees 3×3 Tall Ferns would miss out on the quarter-final by way of the tiebreak.
Overall, a trip for our national 3×3 teams that we can all be proud of.
Special shoutout yet again to the support staff who joined the team on this trip. Coaches Piet van Hasselt (3×3 Tall Blacks) and Anthony Corban (2degrees 3×3 Tall Ferns), and also our two Physio’s Joe Zhang (3×3 Tall Blacks) and Olivia O’Neill (2degrees 3×3 Tall Ferns) for all your efforts in preparing and supporting the teams throughout this campaign.
2degrees 3×3 Tall Ferns results
v China, W 18-17 (Robati 12, Anderson 4, Langton & Smiler 1)
v Korea, L 9-18 (Robati 7, Anderson 2)
3×3 Tall Blacks results
v Vietnam, W 21-15 (Lewis 10, Martin 4, Tonge 4, Hannen 3)
v Qatar, W 17-15 (Lewis 10, Martin 6, Tonge 1)
QF v India, W 21-11 (Lewis 8, Martin 7, Hannen 4, Tonge 2)
SF v Australia, L 19-21 (Lewis 8, Hannen 6, Tonge 5)
3rd place v Japan, W 21-18 (Lewis 8, Tonge 5, Hannen & Martin 4)
