Blake And USA Defeat Uruguay, 122-73
7/19/2000 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
July 19, 2000
USA Basketball Story and Box Score
RIBEIRAO PRETO, Brazil -- Behind a balanced scoring attack that saw every U.S. competitor score, including six in double digits, the 2000 USA World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Team (1-0) outdistanced Uruguay (0-1) 122-73 to open play in the 2000 Confederation of Pan American Basketball Associations (COPABA) World Championship for Young Men Qualifying Tournament Wednesday night in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil. Argentina (1-0) defeated Panama (0-1) 102-67 in the second Group B preliminary round game.
Maryland's Steve Blake (Miami Lakes, Fla.) contributed five points and seven assists while playing 18 minutes off the bench for the United States. He shot 2 of 5 from the floor including one of the Americans' 10 3-point baskets. He also added four rebounds and committed just one turnover.
"We shot the ball unbelievably well," said USA and Syracuse University (N.Y.) head coach Jim Boeheim. "We made about 12 of our first 14 shots and when we do that, there's just no way anybody is going to stay with us. We ended up shooting 67 percent for the game from the two and 40 percent from the three. Our defense was pretty good also, we had some foolish fouls, but other than that we played very well for the first game of the tournament."
Leading from start to finish, the United States, with the help of six points from Michigan State University freshman-to-be Zach Randolph (Marion H.S. / Marion, Ind.) and five points from Duke University guard Jason Williams (Plainfield, N.J.), sprinted out to an early 19-4 advantage before the game was five minutes old. The South Americans, who shot a frigid 1-of-6 from the field to open the contest, began hitting shots during the next 2:39 and closed the gap to within 11 points, 26-15, with 12:59 to go in the half. But that was as close as Uruguay would get as the U.S. went on a 10-2 run to pull away 36-17 with 11:04 remaining. Continuing to hold their opponents at bay, the North Americans cruised through the rest of the first half and closed the first 20 minutes with a commanding 58-33 advantage.
"I think we came out playing really hard," said Williams, who scored a team high-tying 19 points. "We had great intensity, they played tough, we weren't used to some of the fouls that the refs were calling on us. But overall, this was our first game together and we really jelled together today. I think it's looking good for the future."
The USA continued to put on an offensive show in the second half and with 6:56 remaining, Kenny Satterfield (Cincinnati / Bronx, N.Y.) scored the United States' 100th point to increase the squad's lead to 100-64 and the U.S. sailed in for the eventual 122-73 victory.
Williams and Randolph paced the USA's potent offense with 19 points apiece, while the United States' effort was further bolstered by a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds from Nick Collison (Kansas / Iowa Falls, Iowa), Mike Dunleavy (Duke / Lake Oswego, Ore.) and Jason Richardson (Michigan State / Saginaw, Mich.) each contributed 15 and Satterfield finished with 10 points. Maryland's Blake and Duke's and Williams, two of the nation's assist leaders during the 1999-2000 season, passed off for seven and six assists, respectively.
Leandro Morales and Alejandro Devesa led Uruguay with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
The U.S. shot a stellar 58.9 percent (47-80 FGs) from the field, including 40.0 percent (10-25 3pt FGs) from three-point, while holding its opponents to a mere 31.3 percent (21-67 FGs) from the field and 14.3 percent (3-12 3pt FGs) from three-point. The USA also dominated on the glass, out rebounding Uruguay 47-28.
"It was good to get out there and play against someone else," said Collison, who has competed for USA Basketball each of the past two summers. "Uruguay played really hard, but they're not going to be the best team that we're going to play against here. But it felt good to get out there and run up and down a little bit. We still have a lot of stuff we have to work out before we actually play our best, but I thought it was a good first game. I just played hard and was in the right place for a lot of rebounds and finishes. On a team like this you just have to play hard."
"Everybody contributed," added Boeheim. "Everybody looked for each other, we passed the ball very well and it was a really good overall team effort today."
University of Arkansas standout Joe Johnson (Little Rock, Ark.) sprained his left ankle in the USA's July 18 practice and is listed as day-to-day.
Rounding out Boeheim's coaching staff are recently named University of Houston (Texas) head coach Ray McCallum and Hofstra University (N.Y.) head coach Jay Wright.
The U.S. will continue preliminary round pool play against Panama on July 20 at 4:30 p.m. (local) and close pool play against Argentina on July 21 at 7:30 p.m. In Group A action, the Dominican Republic (1-0) defeated Canada (0-1) 99-70, while Brazil will take on Puerto Rico tonight at 8:30 p.m. (local).
