July 6, 2009
BELGRADE,SERBIA.; July 6, 2009 - Behind 17 points from Deon Thompson (North Carolina / Torrance, Calif.), the 2009 USA Men's World University Games Team (3-0) overran Greece (1-2) in the second half and came away with a 108-77 victory in second round action on Monday night in Belgrade, Serbia. With the win, the U.S. is assured a spot in the medal quarterfinals as it can't finish lower than second in Group I play.
Penn State point-guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) posted five points, four assists and a rebound in 19 minutes of action in the game as he was held below double-digits in scoring for the first time at the Games. Battle was 2-of-5 from the floor as Team USA shot 60 percent for the game.
The U.S. will face Serbia (3-0) on Tuesday (2:00 p.m. EDT) to close out second round play, and the winner of that contest will advance as Group I's No. 1 seed. Group I crosses over in quarterfinal play with Group L, and the U.S. will play either Bulgaria (3-0) or Latvia (3-0), depending on who wins the USA versus Serbia contest and Bulgaria versus Latvia game tomorrow night. The No. 1 seed in Group I will play the No. 2 seed out of Group L, and vice versa.
In addition to Thompson's 17 points, the well-balanced offensive effort was aided by Lazar Hayward (Marquette / Buffalo, N.Y.) and Quincy Pondexter (Washington / Fresno, Calif.), who scored 13 apiece; James Anderson (Oklahoma State / Junction City, Ark.) and Da'Sean Butler (West Virginia / Newark, N.J.) each scored 10 points; Corey Fisher (Villanova / Bronx, N.Y.) had nine points and Robbie Hummel (Purdue / Valparaiso, Ind.) chipped in eight as all 12 players scored no less than five points each.
"They gave us their best in the first half," said USA and University of Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan . "In the second half, once we made our push, we got them out of any rhythm they could establish. The rest of the game we were pretty much in control, but in the first 20 minutes, they did the things that make them so good. If we didn't shut that off, we were going to be in trouble. But our guys did what we needed to do, we responded better. We got them in foul trouble in certain positions, and that helped us quite a bit. We got on the glass, and didn't turn the ball over, so we were getting shots every time down. All the fundamental things that you need to do to beat a team, we did, especially in the last 20 minutes."
The second half started with a Fisher 3-pointer, followed by a Hummel steal and layin, and the Americans were off and running. Butler scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, in a 21-7 run that opened up the game 65-46 with 5:36 remaining in the third period. Greece made a come-back attempt and closed to 67-54 with 2:44 to go in the third stanza, however, the USA closed out the period on an 8-0 spurt to go up 75-54 with 10 minutes remaining.
-NITTANY LIONS-