July 15, 2003

Powered by a 23-point, nine-rebound effort from De'Angelo Alexander (Oklahoma), the USA (4-0) crushed Puerto Rico (2-2), 106-72, Monday afternoon in opening quarterfinal play at the 2003 FIBA Junior World Championship for Men in Thessaloniki, Greece. The United States continues quarterfinal action Tuesday, facing Lithuania (4-1).

"Last year during the qualifying tournament, Puerto Rico won the championship in Venezuela and it gave us the opportunity to have a lot of respect for them," said USA head coach Ernie Kent. "We knew they were a very good team. Today we brought our best game because we respected them so much. We shot the ball very well and rebounded the ball very well and I believe that was the difference."

The U.S. juniors led the entire way, jumping out to a 17-10 advantage in the game's first 6:28. But behind a one-man show by Puerto Rico guard Jose Barea, who was a freshman at Northeastern University (Mass.) last season, Puerto Rico hung around.

Scoring 16 of his team's 19 first quarter points, Barea helped Puerto Rico battle back and pull within three, 22-19, with 1:29 left in the opening period. However, Kevin Pittsnogle (West Virginia) answered the call for the U.S., knocking down a jumper and a three-pointer in the first quarter's final minute to push the Americans back out ahead, 27-19.

Continuing to rely on Barea who added four more points, Puerto Rico sliced the lead to 33-29 with 6:02 remaining in the first half. Getting eight points from Daniel Brown (Illinois) and five from Alexander, the U.S. launched a 15-3 run to grab control, 45-31, with 1:42 to play in quarter two. At halftime the USA led, 48-34.

The real difference was rebounding and turnovers in the first 20 minutes. Owning control of the boards to the tune of 29-18, the U.S. had 15 offensive boards. The U.S. defense also forced Puerto Rico into committing 15 turnovers, while the U.S. was whistled for just four.

The third quarter was more bad news for Puerto Rico as the USA poured it on over the final five minutes and when the horn sounded to end the third stanza, the USA owned a 71-50 advantage. The romp continued in the fourth quarter as the USA outscored Puerto Rico, 35-22, in the final period with Maurice Ager (Michigan State) pouring in 14 points as the USA finished off the impressive showing.

In addition to Alexander's 23 points, Brown finished the day with 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds, while sinking 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Ager finished with 15 points, Paul Davis (Michigan State) contributed 13 points and nine rebounds, and Mustafa Shakur (Friends Central High School/Philadelphia, Pa.) added 10 points. Puerto Rico's Barea led all scorers with 35 points.

"They kind of play the way we do, up-and-down, but you can't play us that way because we have a lot of weapons," remarked Alexander, who is averaging a team-high 16.8 points per game after four contests. "I think the key to the game was rebounding like coach said and defending (Barea). One guy can't beat us. I tried to focus on trying to get rebounds here and there to help my team win."

Duke's J.J. Redick, who has been hampered throughout the tournament by an injury, returned to action and played three minutes against Puerto Rico.

In the other Group G game played Monday, Lithuania upset previously undefeated Australia, 96-87, while in Group H, Turkey stunned previously unbeaten Croatia, 87-78. In the consolation quarterfinals round, Venezuela scored a 103-84 victory over South Korea, China pounded Angola, 87-64, and Nigeria ran over Iran, 78-53. The evening games featured host and undefeated Greece taking on Slovenia.

Quarterfinal Shedule


Monday, July 14


Group E                                      Group F
Lithuania  96, Australia 87                  Turkey 87, Croatia 78
USA 106, Puerto Rico 72                      Greece 81, Slovenia 53


Group G                                      Group H
Nigeria 78, Iran 53                          China 87,  Angola 64
Argentina 105, Malaysia 38                   Venezuela 103, S. Korea 84


Tuesday, July 15


Group E                                      Group F
2:30 p.m.  Puerto Rico - Australia           7:00 p.m.  Croatia - Slovenia
4:45 p.m.  Lithuania - USA                   9:15 p.m.  Greece - Turkey


Group G                                      Group H
7:00 p.m.  Iran - Argentina                  2:30 p.m.  Venezuela - China
9:15 p.m.  Malaysia-Nigeria                  4:45 p.m.  Angola - S. Korea


Wednesday, July 16


Group E                                       Group F
2:30 p.m.  Puerto Rico - Lithuania            7:00 p.m.  Turkey - Slovenia
4:45 p.m.  Australia - USA                    9:15 p.m.  Greece - Croatia


Group G                                       Group H
7:00 p.m.  Iran - Malaysia                    2:30 p.m.  S. Korea - China
9:15 p.m.  Argentina - Nigeria                4:45 p.m.  Angola-Venezuela