New Zealand has sealed a prestigious place in the last 16 of the basketball World Championships with victory over winless Canada in Turkey on Thursday.
A powerful defensive effort rattled Canada in an effort Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic described 'as a great deal tougher than it looked'.
The 71-61 win, plus Spain's 91-57 win over Tab Baldwin's Lebanon team, secured a top-four Group D finish for the Kiwis.
If the Tall Blacks dropped this game, they would have been reliant on other results going their way to make the final 16.
Casey Franks put in a courageous effort picking up 14 points and four rebounds, second behind top points scorer Kirk Penney who shot at 44-percent picking up 18 points. Pero Cameron played a solid 21 minutes, the most time he has spent on court for nearly two years.
Canada's Robert Scare showed the way for Canada top scoring with 15 while Levon Kendall put together four assists.
The Tall Backs looked to push the envelope early; they threw the ball all over the court in an attempt to bamboozle the Canadians. However, this tactic had the opposite effect as the Kiwis failed to gain any control in the opening five minutes.
It wasn't until veterans Pero Cameron and Phil Jones took to the court that New Zealand began to gain any ascendancy in the quarter. Lucky enough for the Kiwis, Canada's option taking had them struggling for points also.
The referees began to blow their whistles at will in the second quarter, as if to stamp their own mark on the game and combat the physicality that was beginning to creep in. Both teams traded penalties with the bulk of the points coming from the free throw line.
New Zealand's three-point advantage at the end of the first quarter dribbled out to a 35-28 half time lead.
The Tall Blacks got off to the better of the starts in the second half racking up seven points to Canada's one.
The Kiwis made their opposition work for every point they got. However, New Zealand's hard style of defence began to look like the wrong decision as No.1 point scorer Penney was called for his fourth foul before the third quarter was out.
This allowed Canada to sneak back into the contest closing the half time gap by two to trail New Zealand by 47-41 at the end of the third quarter.
The Tall Blacks entered the final 10 minutes with a mind-set of leaving everything out on the court, evident by the bleeding nose Mika Vukona received going up for a scoring offensive rebound.
Frank took it upon himself to lead the Kiwi charge collecting three rebounds and two quick assists. His defensive reads were at the upper end of excellent as well.
Franks said: "I was just happy I could contribute to my side as I have had little opportunity in tournament so far."
France leads the Kiwis' pool, followed by Spain and then Lithuania with one game each still to be played.