I think that’s something we’ve really talked a lot about, defend the 3-point line” said Donovan.
“When we really went on our run is
when we stopped the three and got some rebounds and got out on transition to score around the basket, which is where we are most effective.”
China, which one night earlier
stunned Russia 71-69, looked confident early on and after scoring its first 15 points off of plays for 3-pointers, the USA trailed 15-12 with 3:36 left in the quarter.
Following a time-out and Donovan
stressing to his squad the need to do a better job of defending the 3-point arc, the U.S. went on a 17-2 terrorizing run to finish off the opening stanza and grab a 29-17 lead.
In the first quarter alone, the USA’s
hounding press forced nine China turnovers and the U.S. grabbed 10 offensive boards.
The final three minutes of the first quarter were just a taste of what was to
USA 113, China 57 June 28, 2013
CHN Lai
Zhou J. Zhao
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 26 0- 2 2- 2 1 03 2 16 0- 3 1- 2 4 12 1 14 1- 4 3- 3 1 20 6
Qian Wu 19 2- 3 1- 1 1 02 5 Heng Li
26 3- 7 1- 1 0 04 9 12 1- 2 0- 1 1 00 2
Quanxi Wu 24 5- 7 0- 1 4 13 10 Luo
Yuan USA
Harrell Stokes Payton
15 0- 2 0- 0 1 10 0 29 6-11 0- 0 1 03 18
R. Zhao 19 1- 2 2- 2 0 02 4 Totals
14 4- 7 0- 0 4 12 8 13 5- 6 3- 4 4 00 13 17 1- 1 2- 2 4 12 4
Sulaimon 22 3- 9 1- 2 3 01 9 Smart
Winslow 22 5-10 4- 7 7 51 14 Gordon Tobey Okafor
14 4- 8 3- 4 2 11 11 17 8-15 1- 4 11 11 17
12 0- 2 0- 0 3 02 0 15 5- 7 1- 2 8 00 11
Williams-Goss 25 3- 3 2- 2 4 41 9 Frazier
China USA
17 12 10 18 -- 57 29 34 23 27 -- 113
3PT FGs-China (9-19): Yuan 6-10, Heng 2-4, J. Zhao 1-3, Lai 0-1, Li 0-1; USA (7-21): Frazier 4-11, Sulaimon 2-6, Williams-Goss 1-1, Smart 0-3; TO-China 32, USA 10; BLKS-China 2, USA 4; STLS-China 7, USA 23.
USA Basketball News
Robinson 9 1- 2 0- 0 0 20 2 Totals
20 5-13 1- 2 0 03 15 200 44-83 18-29 53 15 14 113
200 19-43 10-13 16 5 19 57 MIN FG FT R A PF PTS
Jahlil Okafor earned U19 All-Tournament honors after averaging 10.8 ppg. and 4.8 rpg. for the USA. Helping lead the U.S. to gold, Okafor has now been part of USA teams that won U19 and U17 World Championships and a U16 FIBA Americas Championship.
come for China. Pressing full out and using its
superior manpower, the Americans put on an impressive display of athleticism and basketball.
Leading 29-20 with 9:48 left in the
second period, the U.S. reeled off 16 consecutive points to sprint ahead 45-20, and by the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the U.S. was way out ahead, leading 63-29.
The onslaught continued in the
second half, and the Americans outscored China 26-10 in the third quarter and 27-18 in the final 10 minutes.
Gordon led the way for the U.S.
with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end. Frazier drained four 3-pointers to tally 15 points; Winslow added 14 points and seven rebounds; Stokes made the most of his 13 minutes of action and accounted for 13 points (5-6 FGs) and four rebounds; Okafor was credited with 11 points and eight rebounds and Smart matched Okafor’s scoring with 11 points while grabbing five of his team’s 23 steals.
“I think we have the best inside
game in the whole tournament,” offered 6’10, 253-pound Okafor. “That’s one thing all of the front row guys talk about, even if we don’t get the ball we should still be aggressive on the offensive boards and still pro- duce that way. We’re just trying to be really aggressive on both ends of the floor.”
USA 115, Russia 47 Putting on a display of defensive
tenacity that those in attendance will not likely forget, the USA never stopped coming in waves at the Russians as the U.S. quickly forced Russia into submission and posted a dominating 115-47 victory to cap FIBA U19 World Championship first-round play. The win improved the U.S. record to 3-0 and earned it Group D’s No. 1 seed for the second round.
All 12 USA players scored and
seven reached double digits in what was another show of depth by the U.S.
“They obviously had a hard time with the press, and I thought our ath-
leticism inside, the pace of the game and us turning them over really caused them some problems. I thought we did a pretty good job of defending the 3-point line,” stated Donovan. Rising high school senior Okafor
headed the USA offensive charge with 15 points and added seven rebounds, Harrell chipped in 13 points on flawless 6-for-6 shooting from the floor; Frazier and Gordon scored 12 points each, while Tobey was credited with 12 points and game high nine rebounds. Rounding out the USA’s double-figure scorers were Sulaimon, 11 points, and Winslow scored 10 points and cleared eight rebounds. “Coach told us before the game to
impose our will and be extremely physi- cal,” said the 17-year-old Okafor. “They told me this team was extremely physical so I wanted to match that and over match that, and I just tried to get offensive rebounds and get easy baskets that way.” The USA’s high intensity press paid
dividends right from the start as the U.S. forced two turnovers and took a 6-0 lead before the game was a minute old. Russia called a timeout to regroup
39
Craig Miller/USA Basketball
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