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USA Men Fight Off Israel For 94-84 Win, Remain Undefeated

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[IMG]http://image.exct.net/lib/ff3617717666/i/1/8db54a9f-e.jpg[/IMG][FONT=Times New Roman] [SIZE=2][I]Ashton Gibbs added eight points in the USA’s win over Israel. [FONT=Times New Roman][I](USA Basketball Photos).[/I][/FONT] [/I][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=2][B][B][COLOR=#002B54][FONT=”Helvetica”][COLOR=#000000]SHENZHEN, CHINA[/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/B][COLOR=#000000] (Aug. 18, 2011)[/COLOR][/B][/SIZE][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2] – The USA Men (5-0) survived their first test of the 2011 World University games and rode a 10-0 run that stretched from the end of the third quarter into the first two minutes of the fourth period to an eventual hard-fought 94-84 win over Israel (2-3) on Thursday afternoon at the Universiade Main Gym in Shenzhen, China.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2]Trailing by two points at halftime, 43-41, the USA battled back from its first deficit at a quarter break to remain undefeated. As group Group D’s. No.1 seed, the USA will take on Lithuania (4-1), the No. 2 seed from Group C in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. (all times listed are China Standard Time, which is +12 hours from Eastern Time) on Aug. 20, following a day off for all teams on Aug. 19. The semifinals are scheduled for Aug. 21, and the finals will be played on Aug. 22.
“Anytime you can get into a close game and win it, it really helps your team,” said USA and Purdue University head mentor [B]Matt Painter[/B]. “The game of basketball will humble you at times. I thought there was no difference between the team we beat by 60 and the one we beat by 10. It shows that on any given day, you’d better be ready and you’d better have that focus. Hopefully this close game will help our guys going into the medal round.”
[B]JaMychal Green[/B] (Alabama/Montgomery, Ala.) led the USA for a second-straight game with 16 points; while [B]Marcus Denmon[/B] (Missouri/Kansas City, Mo.) tallied 13 points, five rebounds and four steals; [B]Trevor Mbakwe[/B] (Minnesota/ St. Paul, Minn.) finished with a 12-point, 13-rebound double-double to go with three blocked shots and [B]John Jenkins[/B] (Vanderbilt/ Hendersonville, Tenn.) added 12 points.
“Israel was out there playing hard,” Denmon said. “They made their shots early, and we weren’t making shots. They capitalized off of our missed shots and got out in transition. I felt we made the adjustment in the second half and came out with the win.”
The USA opened the game with a 7-0 spurt as Mbakwe grabbed his first of five offensive boards and converted on a three-point play, followed by four straight points from [B]Orlando Johnson [/B](UC Santa Barbara/Seaside, Calif.). Israel hung within striking distance and closed to two points, 18-16 on two made free throws at 3:50. From there, the teams traded baskets, and a 3-pointer from Denmon at 41.0 seconds helped the USA take a 27-23 lead after the first 10 minutes. Mbakwe, who drew six fouls from the Israeli big men, as did JaMychal Green, landed Israel’s starting forward Samer Jasser in foul trouble in the first few minutes of the game, and Jasser played just four minutes in the contest.
Israel had an answer for every U.S. score in the first five minutes of the second quarter and took its first lead with a 3-pointer at 4:37. The lead changed hands four more times in the stanza, and Israel had a three-point advantage with 48.0 seconds to go. Denmon was fouled on the last shot attempt of the first half and sank one-of-two free throws to cut the margin to two points, 43-41, at halftime.
“In the second half coach got into us a little bit and we took that challenge.” Jenkins said. “We hadn’t really had any adversity since we’ve been here, so we got that first taste of adversity and I think we did well getting through it.”

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