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USA Holds On To Defeat Slovenia in FIBA Junior World Championship
July 11, 2003 Behind 24 points from Paul Davis (Michigan State) and 20 points from Daniel Brown (Illinois), the USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Team survived two would-be game-winning shots as time expired to post a thrilling 84-83 win over Slovenia (0-1) in its opening game of the seventh Annual FIBA Junior World Championship in Thessaloniki, Greece, on Thursday. USA continues preliminary-round play Friday against China (0-1), which lost 92-69 to Nigeria in its opening game. "We knew that Slovenia was a great team and one of the best here in the tournament," said Davis. "It was a good game for us because to play a great European team like them is really going to show us how this tournament is going to go. We came back with defense. We dug down deep and we pulled it out in the end, but it could have gone either way." "They played zone and it was hard for us to get inside so we had to knock down threes," Davis added. "Their big men were shooting great. Erazem (Lorbek) hit some threes and they were running a lot of different plays that got them good looks."
"When people look at the results of this game, the appearance will be that we struggled," said USA head coach Ernie Kent. "We didn't struggle, that was a good basketball team that has been playing together for a while. "This was a difficult game because we haven't had an opportunity to scout Slovenia," Kent explained. "So a smart European team that runs seven or eight really good sets with great shooters, they're going to cause you problems if you've never seen them before and that's exactly what happened in the game. "Once we were able to get a feel for what they were running, settle down and do a better job defensively, then it gave us a great rhythm offensively," Kent continued. "Our press really helped us tonight, it knocked them out of their rhythm, and we shot the ball very especially from the three in the second half. 'Dee' Brown really shot it well and Paul (Davis) had a big game." While Davis scored 18 of his team-high 24 points in the first half, it was Daniel Brown who carried the American squad in the game-deciding fourth quarter. In a fourth quarter that saw both teams lead, with the largest point difference a mere four points, Brown scored 11 points, nine coming on three-pointers, as the USA recorded the victory. Struggling early and falling behind 32-18 with 7:55 to play in the second quarter, the USA team climbed on the back of Davis, who scored nine points during a 17-2 run that saw the Americans take a 35-34 lead with 4:09 remaining in the first half. Davis made two free throws after pulling in an offensive rebound and getting fouled to account for the first half's final points, and at halftime the USA trailed 44-43. The United States scored the third quarter's first six points to take a 49-44 lead, but Slovenia scored six straight to regain the lead 50-49. De'Angelo Alexander (Oklahoma) scored on an offensive rebound to push the USA ahead 51-50, and after Alexander capped the quarter's scoring with a layup that came off a steal and the pass by Mustfa Shakur (Friends Central High School/Philadelphia, Pa.), at the end of three quarters the U.S. led, 64-59. It remained a tight affair for the final 10 minutes and Slovenia regained the lead 71-70 with 5:20 remaining following a three-pointer by Erazem Lorbek, who played last season at Michigan State University. Deron Williams (Illinois) connected on a three to give the lead back to the U.S., 73-71, and following three-pointers from C.J. Watson (Tennessee) and Brown, the U.S. juniors were ahead 79-75 with 3:22 to go. Leading 79-77 with 1:55 left, the U.S. ran an out-of-bounds play for Brown, who dropped his fourth three-pointer of the game to increase the U.S. lead to 82-77. Slovenia scored four consecutive points to close back to within one, but again it was Brown who drove into the lane, then pulled up just inside the foul line and nailed a short jumper to extend the USA advantage to 84-81 with 52 seconds showing on the clock. Slovenia still wasn't finished. Guard Danilo Smigic scored with 31.6 seconds to play to make it a one-point contest, and with 21.6 seconds remaining, Brown was called for an offensive push on the in-bounds pass, giving Slovenia a final chance for the win. With less than 10 seconds remaining on the clock, Smigic drove to the hoop looking for the easy basket or foul, but got neither as his shot rolled wide. But Slovenia came up with the rebound and Domen Lorbek's would-be game winning put-back was off the mark. Davis secured the rebound to give the U.S. the 84-83 victory. "I just tried to step up," said Brown, one of two players back from last year's USA Junior World Championship Qualifying Team. "We ran a few plays for me and I got open looks and my teammates gave me great looks and I knocked them down. I think once we put our press on they made a few turnovers and we scored on our opportunities to get back into the game. A lot of guys stepped up tonight. Paul Davis played well and a lot of other guys made key plays." Davis added a game-high 14 rebounds to go with his 24 points, while Brown made 4-of-7 three-pointers and 7-of-10 shots overall en route to his 20 points. The USA also received solid efforts from Alexander, who finished with 11 points and five boards, while Watson added nine points and six assists. Shakur finished with eight points, six assists and three steals. Slovenia's Erazem Lorbek, a Michigan State teammate of USA team members Davis and Marucie Ager, posted a game-high 28 points, making 11-of-17 shots overall, including 4-of-5 from behind the arc. The USA shot 45.8 percent from the field, and was 11-of-30 from three-point range. Slovenia shot well, hitting 50.8 percent of its overall shots and 66.7 percent of its threes. The USA held a 36 to 34 advantage on the glass, and Slovenia was forced into 20 turnovers. The seventh annual FIBA Men's Junior World Championship will continue through July 20 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Featuring 16 junior national teams that qualified last summer, the teams have been placed into four groups of four for preliminary round robin play. The top two teams from each group will advance to the medal second round, while the remainder of the field will compete for 9th - 16th place. The USA is competing in Group C, joining China, Nigeria and Slovenia. The USA will continue its preliminary round play against China on July 11 and Nigeria on July 12. Second round action is being played July 14-16, while the world championship semifinals are slated for July 19 and the finals will be played July 20. The USA won the Global Games in Dallas while training for the Junior World Championship. 3 FIBA Men's Junior World Championship Schedule/Results GROUP A W L Argentina 1 0 Australia 1 0 South Korea 0 1 Turkey 0 1(NOTE: Greece is 7 hours ahead of EDT)
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