USA U21 World Championship Team Claims Global Games Gold
7/31/2005 1:33:27 PM | Men's Basketball
FRISCO, Texas -- In a total team effort that saw each team member score at least four points apiece, the USA U21 World Championship Team (4-0) ran away with a 104-62 victory over Team Texas (2-4) to capture the 2005 Global Games gold medal on Saturday night at the Dr. Pepper Star Center in Frisco, Texas. Syracuse junior Terrence Roberts was named to the 2005 Global Games All-Tournament Team.
Taj Gray (Oklahoma / Wichita, Kan.) andJ.J. Redick (Duke / Roanoke, Va.) paced the U.S. squad to victory with 15 points apiece.
The United States used the 2005 Global Games as a tune-up for the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship, scheduled to be played Aug. 5-14 in Cordoba and Mar del Plata, Argentina.
"I think that this is a team that really shares the ball. They're getting a feel for that," said USA and Saint Joseph's (Pa.) head coach Phil Martelli. "But I'm still concerned about turnovers. We've got too many turnovers for this level of players. I also think our rebounding needs to improve immediately or we're going to be in trouble in Argentina."
The United States jumped out early and Texas was never able to recover. However, the Texans were never really out of it in the first half due to collecting 13 points from the line.
Gray scored eight points in the USA's opening 12-2 run that ended at 6:33 with a Nick Fazekas (Nevada / Arvada, Colo.) basket inside. Texas hit its first field goal at 6:18, followed by another pair of free throws at 5:39. But Rudy Gay (Connecticut / Baltimore, Md.) swished a three, and UConn teammate Marcus Williams (Connecticut / Los Angeles, Calif.) followed with a steal, which he fed to Gay inside for a slam dunk. At 3:32 Gay finished his 6-0 run after connecting on his second charity shot and the USA was up 18-6. By the end of the first period the United States led by 10, 23-13.
Increasing its lead in a second quarter that saw Team Texas hit just four field goals, the United States closed the half with a 45-30 advantage.
Allowing Texas the second half's first bucket 17 seconds in, the USA U21 National Team upped its defensive pressure and outgunned Texas 14-2 over 5:24 to put the game away 59-34 with 14:19 to go in the contest. Outscoring Texas 28-8, the USA closed the third quarter with a commanding 73-38 lead and allowed just two field goals by Texas (at 9:43 and 0:52) in the third.
"We turned it up defensively, got some more steals and started to make a lot more plays," said Roberts of the team's third quarter domination. "We stopped trying to force things and stuff like that. And that's what you have to do to make it work."
The young Americans sailed through the final 10 minutes for the eventual 104-62 victory and the 2005 Global Games gold medal.
In addition to Taj Gray and Redick's 15 points, Justin Gray and Roberts each chipped in 11.
2005 USA U21 World Championship Team
The U.S. will take a well deserved day off on
Sunday and following a 10:30 a.m. practice on Aug. 1 at Collins Community College, the American team will travel to Mar del Plata, Argentina, for its final practices before tipping off play at the 2005 FIBA U21 World Championship against China on Aug. 5 at 3:30 p.m. (all times EDT). The United States will then face Lithuania on Aug. 6 at 2:30 p.m. and Puerto Rico on Aug. 7 at 6:30 p.m. After a day off, the USA is slated to face Nigeria on Aug. 9 at 3:00 p.m. and will close out preliminary round play on Aug. 10 with a 12:45 p.m. contest against Slovenia. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be played Aug. 12-14.
