USA Team Upsets Argentina at Pan Am Games Friday Night
7/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The USA Men’s Pan American Games Team (1-2) showed Friday night that they are fast learners when they surprised previously unbeaten Argentina 74-71 in the team’s final preliminary round game in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Playing their third game in as many nights, 6-9 forward D.J. White (Indiana / Tuscaloosa, Ala.) was a force for coach Jay Wright’s USA squad, scoring a game best 22 points, with numerous points coming in critical times.
University of Alabama head basketball coach Mark Gottfried is an assistant coach for the USA's team.
Semifinals plays gets underway Saturday. The U.S. will face the U.S. Virgin Islands (1-2) on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. (CST) in one of the two consolation round semifinals games, while Panama (1-2) will go up against Canada (0-3) in the other. In the medal semifinals round, Brazil (3-0) will challenge Uruguay (2-1), and Argentina (2-1) will meet Puerto Rico (2-1). The Pan Am finals are being contested Sunday.
"I think our guys finally understand how physical this is and how you have to play at this level. I'm proud of them. They really battled. Argentina's a great team. I'm proud that after 0-2 they didn't quit. I think that says a lot about their character and how much pride they take in representing the USA," said Wright.
The youngest team competing in the Games, the U.S. proved resilient against Argentina and unlike its prior two outings, the Americans continuously made big plays.
Trailing 42-38 with 9:12 to play in the third quarter, an energized USA team got things rolling. Joey Dorsey (Memphis / Baltimore, Md.) started things off with an offensive rebound and putback, then with White scoring seven points and Scottie Reynolds (Villanova / Herndon, Va.) adding five more, the USA went on a 20-9 run that left it leading 59-51 with 1:27 left in the third period.
Argentina closed out the quarter with a pair of 3-pointers from Javier Bulfoni, including the second which came with just two ticks left in the quarter, to make the score 59-57.
