The New Zealand men's basketball team's slim hopes of qualifying for the London Olympics are hanging by a thread after being crushed 84-62 by Macedonia in Venezuela.
The injury-depleted Tall Blacks, missing stars Kirk Penney and Tom Abercrombie, are ranked 19th in the world but were well beaten by the 67th-ranked Macedonians on Wednesday morning (NZT).
Centre Alex Pledger was the only Kiwi to get into double figures, scoring 11 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. But Macedonia had three players in double figures, led by US-born guard Bo McCalebb who had 23 points and 11 assists.
Twelve nations are chasing the final three places on offer for London at the tournament in Caracas.
The Tall Blacks, who also lost three warm-up matches in Brazil, next play Angola on Thursday morning (NZT).
NZN