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Kiwis making surprise visit to semis Posted: Thursday September 05, 2002 11:20 PMUpdated: Thursday September 05, 2002 11:25 PM INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Phil Jones scored 21 points and Pero Cameron added 16 including the final eight for New Zealand as the nation reached its first World Championships semifinals Thursday night with a 65-63 victory over Puerto Rico. Players for New Zealand, whose only other appearance in the tournament was in 1986, celebrated by going into the stands with their fans and dancing around the RCA Dome court. For Puerto Rico it was yet another close call in a tournament filled with them. The Puerto Ricans are now 5-2, but five of their games have been decided by four or fewer points. Puerto Rico is 3-2 in those games but none was as heartbreaking as Thursday's, which knocked them out of medal contention. Puerto Rico was trying to win its first medal in tournament history. Now Puerto Rico must settle for playing the United States on Friday. New Zealand meets Yugoslavia with the winner of Saturday's game advancing to the gold-medal game. New Zealand (4-3) led for much of the contest and fended off charge after charge by Puerto Rico, which took a 58-57 lead with 3:50 to go when Jose Ortiz made 1 of 2 free throws. But Cameron hit a 3-pointer and after Antonio Latimer tied the game with a putback, Cameron hit another 3 with 1:09 left. Elias Ayuso tied the score by hitting a 3-pointer, but Cameron broke free for a layup with 23.4 seconds left and Latimer's baseline shot was partially blocked by Ed Block to preserve the win. Ayuso led Puerto Rico with 24 points, including seven 3-pointers. Ortiz had 13 points and 10 rebounds. |
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