It took some buzzer-beating heroics from star shooter Kirk Penney to earn the New Zealand men's basketball team a hard-fought 69-68 victory over Iran at the Adidas Cup tournament in Istanbul.
The result between the reigning Oceania and Asian champions marks New Zealand's first win on the road to the FIBA World Championships in Turkey, starting later this month.
However it also highlights how far the Tall Blacks must improve if they hope to qualify out of their pool at Izmir.
They squandered several opportunities to seize control of this encounter and had to claw their way back from six points adrift in the final quarter.
Penney had been the villain when, with 25 seconds remaining and his team still a point down, he committed his fifth turnover of the game.
Somehow, Tom Abercrombie regained possession, Mika Vukona missed with his attempted winner, but the ball was regathered and Penney made no mistake as the clock ran out.
The win should be morale-booster for the Tall Blacks after tough losses to Serbia and Turkey.
Penney again led all scorers with 28 points with support from Craig Bradshaw with 12 and Abercrombie, whose all-round performance of 10 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks, may have been the deciding factor.
