July 5, 2009
BELGRADE, SERBIA, July 5, 2009 - Nittany Lion point-guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) posted his second-straight double-figure scoring outing at the 2009 World University Games on Saturday as he scored 12 points in Team USA's 113-76 rout of South Korea (0-2) on the Fourth of July. The victory propelled Team USA (2-0) into the second round that begins Monday at 2:00 p.m. (EDT) when they take on Greece (1-1), the second place finisher in Group A. Team USA will also face Group A first place finisher Serbia (2-0), a team it lost to in exhibition action, on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. (EDT). Finland (1-1) completes the four teams in Group I for second round action.
Battle was one of seven double-digit scorers for Team USA on Saturday as all 12 players scored in a run-away victory. James Anderson (Oklahoma State / Junction City, Ark.) and Quincy Pondexter (Washington / Fresno, Calif.) led the USA with 14 points apiece; Battle, Lazar Hayward (Marquette / Buffalo, N.Y.) and Deon Thompson (North Carolina / Torrance, Calif.) contributed 12 points each; while Trevor Booker (Clemson / Whitmire, S.C.) and Jarvis Varnado (Mississippi State / Brownsville, Tenn.) added 11 points apiece. Evan Turner (Ohio State / Chicago, Ill.) grabbed a team-best nine rebounds in the USA's dominant performance on the glass that saw the red, white and blue out-rebound South Korea 62-21.
"We knew they were going to do a lot of different things -- a lot of run-and-jump, a lot of pressure," said USA and University of Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. "So we took the lay ups when we could. We needed to take better care of the ball, but, boy, it was so tempting to push it when they were extended. Shooting percentage wise, we ended up shooting it pretty well."
Battle, who started the game, added four rebounds and two assists while shooting 4-of-8 from the floor (2-of-4 from three) in a team-high 23 minutes of action. Battle scored 10 points in the first half as Team USA raced to a 56-26 half time lead. Team USA lead by as many as 40 in the second half. Battle averaged 11.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg and 2.0 apg in the first round while shooting 8-of-12 (67%) from the floor.
In all, 16 teams advanced to medal second round play and have been placed into four pools of four teams each. Results of first round games against advancing teams carry over to the second round. Group J features Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania; Group K includes Canada, Israel, Italy and Russia; while Group L includes Bulgaria, Portugal, Turkey and Ukraine.
Medal quarterfinals will be played on July 9, semifinals are scheduled for July 10 and the gold medal will be contested on July 11.