MARIBOR (FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men) - Excellent Puerto Rico trailed for three quarters but battled back and defeated New Zealand 82-74 in the first game of the Alpos Cup in Maribor – a warm-up event for next week’s FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

In the second game of the evening, hosts Slovenia thrashed Iran 96-71.

The Puerto Ricans, who are now starting to play with their established veterans like Daniel Santiago and Larry Ayuso, upset hosts Germany at the Supercup in Bamberg over the weekend and also pushed Greece hard before losing in that final.

On Tuesday, they trailed 30-16 in the second quarter after Mike Vukona connected from long range for the Tall Blacks.

And the Oceania side, who upset Canada on Friday before travelling to Europe, were still on top at 51-40 midway through the third quarter after a pair of free throws by Lindsay Tait.

But Puerto Rico closed the gap to 56-55 by the end of quarter on an Ayuso three-pointer and another shot from behind the arc by the impressive Joel Jones early in the final period sparked an 8-0 run that gave Manolo Cintron’s team a 67-59 advantage.

They stayed in front the rest of the way.

Jose Barea again led Puerto Rico in scoring with 13 points while Ayuso and Jones, who is starting to look like a great addition to the squad, had 12 apiece.

Center Santiago underlined his importance to the team by scoring the majority of his 11 points over the final 15 minutes when Puerto Rico took command. He also had seven rebounds.

Puerto Rico closed off the inside against New Zealand, limiting them to just 11 of 27 shooting inside the arc, while beyond it the Kiwis were 12 of 34.

Kirk Penny scored a game-high 24 while Vukona had 12 rebounds to go with his nine points and Craig Bradshaw 10 boards to go with his 13.

Puerto Rico were superior with their interior play and made 20 of 38 from two-point range, while sinking an impressive 10 of 23 on their three-ball attempts.

In Slovenia’s big win, Rasho Nesterovic scored 18 points on eight of 12 shooting.

The Slovenians won after defeats to Greece and Germany in the Supercup.

Puerto Rico are in Group D of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament with Croatia and Cameroon while New Zealand are in Group B with Germany and Cape Verde.

Slovenia are in Group C with Korea and Canada, while Iran qualified for the Beijing Games by winning last year’s FIBA Asia Championship.

FIBA