A gruelling 12-team repechage tournament is now the Tall Blacks' last chance to qualify for the Rio Olympics after they were beaten again by the Australian basketball team.
Corey Webster was New Zealand's top scorer with 16 points last night, but he couldn't prevent the side going down 89-79.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The team needed to erase a 12-point deficit after losing the first leg in Melbourne, but struggled to contain the Boomers' fast and accurate outside shooters.
Their shooting percentage was again poor, just as in Melbourne, shooting below 40 percent.
The Australian lead reached 20 points by the final quarter, before the Tall Blacks went on a desperate late charge to half the difference.
Paul Henare's men will next year compete in a 12-team qualifying tournament against the best of the rest from other regions, with the top three making it to Rio.
After losing the opening match in Melbourne at the weekend the Tall Blacks needed to win last night's game by at 12 points to overcome the game one deficit and secure a spot at Rio.
Missed the game? Catch up with our live blog, hosted by Megan Whelan, here.
New Zealand started slowly, trailing by seven at the end of the first quarter, and made no impression in the second quarter with Australia leading 40-33 at halftime.
The Boomers stepped up a gear in the third quarter, giving the capacity 4000-strong crowd at the TSB Arena little to cheer about.
Veteran NBA player Andrew Bogut, one of four NBA players in the Australian side, asserted his physical dominance both on offence and defence as the Boomers extended their lead to 13 points at the end of the third quarter.
The Tall Blacks fought back in the final quarter to get within five points of Australia with just over a minute to go, but the Boomers went on to run out 89-79 winners.
The Tall Blacks shooting percentage was again poor, just as in Melbourne, shooting below 40 percent.
Corey Webster top scored for New Zealand with 16 points, while Matthew Dellavedova who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA final top scored for the Boomers with 14 points.
New Zealand still have a chance to qualify for Rio but will have to go through a tough 12 nation repechage tournament in July next year and finish in the top three if they are to play at the Olympics.
The New Zealand women's team will also have to go through the same qualifying procedure after they lost their Oceania series to Australia 2-nil yesterday.
