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USA Olympic Qualifying Team Leads Start To Finish In 98-69 Victory Over Venezuela

Also see box score.

Unlike its first two games when it trailed in the game’s first or second quarters and then fought back to impressive wins, the USA Olympic Qualifying Team (3-0) charged ahead right from the start Friday night and went on to post a 98-69 win over Venezuela (0-3) in FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament action in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was the third win in as many nights for the U.S. and extended the USA’s win streak in Olympic qualifying games to 19 consecutive victories.

With the win the USA remains on top of the standings for Group B at 3-0. The USA will wrap-up its preliminary round play against the Virgin Islands (0-2) in a 5 p.m. (EDT) game on Saturday.

“We had some down parts to the game and we had some good parts. The main thing is we won. It wasn't pretty but we still got the job done,” stated U.S. guard Mike Bibby (Sacramento Kings). “We had some turnovers, but that's going to happen sometimes when everyone is passing the ball. I'd rather have that than having everyone just shooting one shot off the first pass.”

“I thought we got out to a good start and then we didn’t execute well in the second half,” said Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76ers). “And those guys hit shots. When guys are playing us tough, it’s not about us playing bad all the time, you have to give credit to the guys that came here who are competing as well. They lace up their shoes, they put on their uniforms just like us. And they’re going to play us hard until the game is over. We understand that we have a bulls eye on our chest and everybody’s going to come out and try to beat us. They feel that if they can beat us, that’ll make their tournament. At times we played bad, but eventually we got it together and we were able to win with a big lead.”

Leading 8-6, the USA scored nine consecutive points in 2:58 to move out to a 17-6 lead. Scoring the final nine points of the opening stanza, the Americans were well on their way to a victory leading 26-11 after one quarter.

Venezuela was only able to make 4-of-19 field goals in the game’s first quarter, including 2-of-8 from 3-point. The U.S., getting eight points from Tracy McGrady (Orlando Magic) and six points from Iverson in the quarter, shot 57.9 percent (11-19 FGs) and outrebounded Venezuela 15-to-5.

The second quarter saw Venezuela find the range from 3-point land six times (in 10 attempts) and its other points came on 6-of-8 shooting from the free throw line. Still, after McGrady hit a jumper just prior to the halftime buzzer, the USA lead stood at 52-35 at halftime.

Venezuela pushed the USA in the third period, cutting the gap to 11 points, 58-47, with 5:37 to play. Leading 67-55 with 3:47 to go in the third, Bibby contributed four points in a 10-4 USA spurt that upped the American’s advantage at the end of three periods to 77-59.

The USA limited Venezuela to just 10 points in the final quarter and topped off the contest with a 13-3 run that featured Vince Carter (Toronto Raptors) scoring 10 points in the game ending run.

McGrady led the USA scoring effort with 16 points while adding five assists, Iverson finished with 14 points and a game best seven assists, Carter and Bibby each tallied 13 points, Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) posted his second double-double of the tournament recording 13 points and 13 rebounds, and tossing in five assists, and Elton Brand (Los Angeles Clippers) added 10 points.

For the third straight night the U.S. shot over 59.0 percent from the field, making 59.3 percent of it tries overall, and 45.5 percent (5-11 3pt FGs) from 3-point. Venezuela managed a chilly 31.0 shooting percentage overall, including 13-of-33 (39.4 percent) from 3-point. Controlling the glass 43-to-20, the U.S. was whistled for 23 turnovers.

“The score doesn‘t indicate how much closer it was,” said USA head coach Larry Brown. “I don’t think it was our best performance. Last night we had 39 assists and very few turnovers and tonight we turned the ball over a bunch without being pressed, and didn’t shoot well from the free throw line and still won by 29. But I don’t think we played up to our standards and I believe Venezuela had a lot to do with it. They played with a lot of energy and moved the ball great, and did a very, very good job defensively on us. It was a good win, we finished off strong and Vince was a big part of it down the stretch. We’ve got to get better and I think we all know it.”

Friday’s other action saw Mexico (2-0) defeat Uruguay (0-3) 80-68 to remain undefeated, Argentina (2-1) rallied in the fourth quarter and earned a critical 94-90 win over Canada (1-1), and the Dominican Republic (2-1) earned a 69-65 win against the Virgin Islands (0-2).

Saturday’s preliminary round games feature Canada facing winless Uruguay, Mexico will put its perfect record on the line against host Puerto Rico, and Venezuela will meet Brazil in the nightcap.

Ten men's national teams from North, South and Central America are competing in the 2003 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the top three finishers will qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games.

Preliminary round play takes place Aug. 20-24, then the top four finishing teams from each of the two preliminary round groups will advance to the second ground where they form one group. The second round games are scheduled for Aug. 25-28, each team will play the other four teams they have not previously played. The top four finishers based on overall records will then advance to the Saturday, Aug. 30 semifinals, and the winners of the semifinals games will meet on Sunday, Aug. 31 in the gold medal game, while the losers of Saturday’s semifinals showdowns wll square off in the bronze medal game.

USA Basketball has had to qualify for the Olympics through a zone qualifying tournament twice before, 1992 in Portland, Oregon, and 1999 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Americans in 1992 rolled to a 6-0 record, won the gold medal and earned a qualifying berth in the ‘92 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. In 1999, under the direction of Brown, the American squad won 10 games in 11 days to finish 10-0 and in possession of the gold, while earning one of the two Americas Olympic qualifying berths.