Wellington, Sept 3 NZPA - The New Zealand men's basketball team enjoyed a double dose of Turkish delight as their world championship campaign kicked up a gear today.

The Tall Blacks completed their group D assignment with a third win, beating France 82-70 to advance through to next week's second round knockout stage.

Their continued presence was assured irrespective of today's result at Izmir, Turkey, but the margin of victory saved them from a second round matchup against the unbeaten host nation in their Istanbul stronghold.

Instead, a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Thomas Abercrombie which capped the win earned the New Zealanders the 12-point margin they needed to pip France for third place in the pool and booked them a second round game against Russia at Istanbul on Tuesday morning (NZT).

The reaction of the Tall Blacks bench told its own story and assistant coach Dillon Boucher said everyone was fully aware of the implications of Abercrombie's late stunner.

"We knew the exact scenarios, we had been following the results of the other teams," Boucher said.

New Zealand will take form, momentum and belief into their match against Russia, who they beat once and lost to once during a series of pre-championship tournaments in Europe last month.

"That's going to be a good battle. They know us very well and we know them very well.

"Home court advantage is huge in basketball. Playing Turkey in front of their home fans will be tough for anyone and although Russia will be tough also they won't have a 20,000-strong fanbase."

The Tall Blacks had opened their campaign with successive losses to reigning world champions Spain and Lithuania before their fortunes changed for the better as they beat Lebanon and Canada before lifting to another level to topple France.

After a slow start when trailing 17-20 at the end of the first quarter, the New Zealanders broke the game open in the second period when restricting the French to just five points.

They swamped France 22-5 for the quarter to snatch a decisive 39-25 lead by halftime, something they protected in the third stanza which they won 19-18.

The French refused to go away and chipped away at a 14-point deficit in the last quarter, sneaking to within six points at 66-72 late in the match after Tall Blacks guard Phill Jones was called for his fifth foul.

Veteran Pero Cameron then settled New Zealand's nerves with a sky hook basket to make it 74-66 with 46 seconds remaining, and shooting guard Kirk Penney made the game safe with 20sec to go by a attracting a foul while sinking a three-pointer to lift his personal haul to a game-high 25 points.

Mike Vukona was next best for the winners with 15 points while the French were best served by Yannick Bokolo with 13 and Mickael Gelabale 12.

Boucher said Cameron's timely contribution summed up why head coach Nenad Vucinic named him for the championship despite the 36-year-old lacking match fitness due to a longstanding ankle injury.

"While still not 100 percent he is probably the best passing big man in basketball today. He gets guys open and hits big shots. What he did today was a classic Pero Cameron shot. He takes big shots and he makes big shots."

Boucher was particularly pleased with the character shown by his players today.

"We had a target we wanted to get, and we fought and fought and battled. Maybe a lucky shot went down at the end but everyone was on the same page and knew what we wanted to do."