There will be no Cinderella run for the NZ Tall Blacks at the FIBA World Championship for Men in Istanbul.

The Tall Blacks ran into foul trouble and the height and long limbs of Russia, bowing out of the tournament in Turkey with a 78-56 loss in this morning’s eighth-final.

With both Mika Vukona and then Kirk Penney whistled for their fourth personal fouls mid-way through the third period, it put the Tall Blacks’ best defensive and offensive players on the bench for large periods of the game and ultimately led to their downfall, a second straight world championship exit in the round of 16.

New Zealand, led by 21 points from Penney and 13 points from Tom Abercrombie, battled the only way they know how until the final buzzer but were always up against it with the long and well-organised Russian defence, which forced 15 turnovers and took the Tall Blacks out of their offensive rhythm with physicality.

The Russians took full toll of their height advantage, grabbing 13 offensive rebounds to win the rebounding battle 41-25, and had a 34-18 points in the paint advantage.

“It’s disappointing,” a dejected Abercrombie said.

“We didn’t play the way we wanted to and Russia really dominated us in the rebounding stats tonight, an area we’ve prided ourselves in this tournament. You get beaten on the boards like that and you’re not going to win many games.

“Credit to Russia tonight. They outplayed us and deserved to win. We played hard and gave it everything …”

Russia led by as many as 16 points in the third period, but the Tall Blacks were able to get it back to 11 points and give themselves a small chance at 51-40 with a quarter to run. When Penney drew a foul on a three-point attempt and coverted all three free-throws, it got New Zealand within eight points in the opening minute of the fourth, but it was the closest the Kiwis would get.

Russia, led by Andrey Vorontsevich’s 18 points, put on a 12-3 scoring run in garbage time to blow out the winning margin.

Penney, the tournament’s second-leading scorer coming into the game, had his own late scoring burst, scoring six late points to finish with his fifth game of 20-plus points despite collecting three fouls in the first half and his fourth in the third quarter. He went 5-of-13 from the floor, but an uncharacteristic 1-of-6 on threes, and 10-of-12 from the foul-line.

FIBA World Championship for Men

Istanbul, Turkey

Monday, September 6
Russia 78 (Andrey Vorontsevich 18, Timofey Mozgov 16, Vitaliy Fridzon 12) New Zealand 56 (Kirk Penney 21, Tom Abercrombie 13)
Q1 13-15
HT 31-27 (18-12)
Q3 51-40 (20-13)
FT 78-56 (27-16)
NZ v Russia box score (html 119kb)