Americans as Newman calmly scored seven points in a 11-3 run to pull the reins back to 20-18 with 3:06 left in the first quarter. “The team, they labeled me as
the leader, so if they see me panicking then they have the right to panic,” said Newman. “So, I tried to stay calm and stay focused and just play our game. I happened to get going at the time, so coach told me to keep playing my game. “My team just told me that if I’m
feeling it, to just shoot it. For those guys to believe in me and for the coaching staff to believe in me, that took a lot.” From there the teams remained
close and the lead swapped twice more with Australia holding a 27-26 edge with 12.7 seconds left on the clock. Battle however, found the net with three seconds remaining to close the first period and put the red, white and blue up for good, 28-27. While the Americans never again
trailed, each time they pulled away Australia fought back, usually with at least one 3-pointer. In fact, with the United States holding a 10-point lead late in the first half, Australia sunk its third trey of the half and headed into the locker room trailing 50-43. Australia came out of the half on a
10-6 spurt, which included a pair of 3s, and the USA’s lead was down to four, 56-52, at 6:56. Jackson got a steal and a layin to spark a 9-0 run in which he also dished out an assist and got a put-back, and the U.S. was back up in double digits, 65-52, with 15 minutes to play in the game. “I just knew that energy and hustle
were two things that I had to do for us to come out with the win,” said Jackson. “So, I just tried my best to do what I had to do.
The teams battled through the
remainder of the third quarter and with 10 minutes to play the USA’s advantage was at 10, 74-64. Expanding its lead to 15 points
mid-way through the fourth quarter after a pair of buckets from Rabb and a traditional 3-point play by Jackson, the Americans looked like they were putting some distance between themselves and the Australians.
60
our seven guys who come off the bench is kind of what sepa- rates us, and it really did tonight.” In addition to Newman, the
Americans were helped offen- sively by Tatum, who scored 15 points and had five rebounds; while Giles, who had six boards, and Jackson, who had seven rebounds and two blocked shots, each chipped in 13 points. Stone scored nine points and hauled in eight boards. Australia shot 44.0 percent
(11-25 3pt FGs) from 3-point, while the U.S. made just 2-of-15. As has been the case the entire tournament, the USA outrebound- ed its opponent, this time with a 57-31 advantage on the glass. The USA also outscored
Terrance Ferguson shot 41.4 percent for the U.S. from 3-point and tied for the team lead in made 3-pointers with 12.
Australia, which came back from a
22-point deficit in its semifinal game to take an overtime victory against Spain, had hopes of another comeback. Getting points from four different players, including another 3-pointer from Vasiljevic, the USA’s advantage was cut to six points, 88-82, with 2:25 to play. The USA expanded its lead back to
10 points, 92-82, at 1:22, but Australia began launching 3-pointers, three of which found their mark, and with 30.1 seconds left the USA held a 96-91 edge. Newman fouled an Aussie on a
3-point attempt, but Tom Wilson made just the third to give Australia its final point of the game. Australia attempted two more from beyond the arc, but one was blocked by Jackson and the other was off the mark. From there the Aussies were forced to foul to stop the clock and the United States came away with the win.
“Our kids hung together,” said
Showalter. “We had some really good play again off the bench. Jayson Tatum came in and did a great job for us. We got different help every night from our bench. I’ve always said that you put our five starters against the five starters from Australia, Serbia or Spain, it’s going to be a really close game. But our bench,
AUS
Australia 24-4 on second chances, 20-14 points off turnovers and had a strong showing from the bench with a 42-17 scoring advantage.
USA 99, Australia 92 August 16, 2014
Vasiljevic 36 9-24 5- 7 3 24 29 Owies Wilson Noi
36 7-14 7-12 6 72 23 23 6-10 0- 0 5 15 13
Humphries 28 2- 5 4- 4 7 03 8 Hodgson 2 0- 0 0- 0 0 00 0 Akintola
McMullan 3 0- 0 0- 0 0 00 0 Clark White
2 0- 0 0- 0 0 01 0 19 2- 5 0- 0 2 02 4
Froling Totals
USA
6 0- 1 0- 0 0 01 0 24 4- 6 3- 3 0 10 13 200 31-70 19-26 31 13 21 92
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS
Ferguson 17 0- 3 1- 2 1 12 1 Newman 34 8-21 3- 6 11 34 21 Jackson 21 5-11 3- 4 7 11 13 Giles Stone Battle
21 6-10 1- 2 6 02 13 23 3-11 3- 6 8 03 9 5 1- 3 0- 0 0 00 2
Ramsey 11 2- 3 0- 0 0 03 4 King
Tatum Ellenson Totals
Australia USA
13 3- 4 0- 0 0 00 6 21 7-14 1- 2 5 12 15 9 0- 2 0- 0 5 00 0
Swanigan 12 2- 3 2- 2 6 02 6 Rabb
27 16 21 28 -- 92 28 22 24 25 -- 99
3PT FGs-Australia (11-25): Vasiljevic 6-14, Wilson 2-4, Froling 2-3, Noi 1-1, Clark 0-2, Owies 0-1; USA (2-15): Newman 2-8, Ferguson 0-2, Jackson 0- 2, Battle 0-1, King 0-1, Tatum 0-1; TO-Australia 16, USA-16; BLKS-Australia 1, USA 6; STLS- Australia 6, USA 9.
USA Basketball News
13 4- 4 1- 1 3 01 9 200 41-89 15-25 57 6 20 99
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 21 1- 5 0- 0 4 23 2
Caroline Williams/USA Basketball
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