The Tall Blacks or what we all known as New Zealand send the hard-working Finland home after winning 67-65 in a Group C thriller in Bilbao last Thursday. They finally clinched a place in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Round of 16. The winning team opened up a 20-point lead over Finland and managed to hold on until the buzzer dictated the end of the game. This made Bilbao Exhibition Center as the venue with most of the drama according to the FIBA.com.

Petteri Koponen was tagged as Finland's best player in the said tournament and had a good chance to give equivalent score of the Tall Blacks in the game. Yet his mid-range jump shot was too short and the New Zealanders won.

On the other side, the 20-year-old player named Isaac Fotu has emerged as one of the brightest stars that particular match as he had 18 points to lead the team to their second victory.

New Zealand had stayed in the battleground after a poor 0-3 starting position with a 12-point victory over Ukraine last Wednesday.

The teams - Dominican Republic, New Zealand and Ukraine each had 2-3 records but the Dominicans and Tall Blacks ended third and fourth on a tie, as Ukraine dropped to fifth place.

Following the matches on Thursday, the Round of 16 fixtures is all set.

In Barcelona this coming Saturday, the mighty USA will meet Mexico  in first game as the Dominican Republic will battle against Slovenia in the second. The other bracket in Madrid has France against Croatia first and Spain against Senegal second.

Then on Sunday, New Zealand will meet the Lithuania and Turkey will go up against Australia in the next game in Barcelona.

(Source: FIBA official website)