Harbour's Fab Five at World Cup
Reflecting on the performance of the New Zealand Tall Blacks at the FIBA World Cup it was extraordinary to note that the starting five in each of the Tall Blacks were all ex Harbour representative players.
Not only were they starters for the New Zealand team that finished with a 3-2 win/loss record that included notable 102-101 victory against Turkey in their final game but the five were also prominent performers.
Corey Webster had a remarkable World Cup not only leading the Tall Blacks scoring with 22.8 points per game but also heading the assists category with 5.6 dimes per outing. His 22.8ppg placed him third on scoring list at the tournament where he was also in the top ten shooters when it came to three-point percentages. Cory made 24 from 44 threes at 55%.
Rob Loe was also highly efficient from the three-point line making 52% of his shots (12/23) placing him 11that the tournament. The starting centre averaged 11 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Leading the rebounds for the Tall Blacks was Isaac Fotu who averaged 6.0 boards per game in addition to being the Kiwis second highest scorer with 92 points,(behind Corey) at 18.4ppg. His 66.7 shooting from the field place him first in the field goal shooting percentage category at the event.
New Zealand has only had three double-double performances at World Cups and Isaac has recorded two of them. He had 23 points and 10 rebounds against Japan having recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds against Ukraine back in 2014. The other double-double was recorded by Craig Bradshaw (12 points and 10 rebounds) back in 2006.
Tai Webster had a strong campaign averaging 13.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.
Tom Abercrombie was the fifth starter averaging 9.6 points and 5.6 rebounds. His 28 rebounds took his tally in three World Cups to 91 which is the most recorded by any New Zealander in World Cup basketball history.
The sixth Harbour representative was Jarrod Kenny but unfortunately the former Westlake Boys head boy, attending his second World Cup, was sidelined with injury.
Jarrod now heads back to Cairns Taipans for Australian NBL duties with Corey, Tom and Rob back in Auckland with the Breakers. Tai returns to Turkey for a second season with Galatasaray meanwhile Isaac is playing in Italy for his new club Treviso.
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