U.S. mounts huge rally to win Pan American bronze

From www.usab.com
The U.S. Pan American Games Men’s Basketball Team stormed back from a 21-point third quarter deficit to claim an 87-82 victory against Dominican Republic and capture the bronze medal Saturday in Toronto, Canada.
Guard Bobby Brown (Dongguan Leopards, China/Los Angeles, California) led the USA charge with 19 points, Damien Wilkins (Indios de Mayagüez, Puerto Rico/ Orlando, Florida) added 18, Taurean Waller-Prince (Baylor/San Antonio, Texas) had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Ron Baker (Wichita State/Scott City, Kansas) and Denzel Valentine (Michigan State/Lansing, Michigan) each tossed in 11 points.
Playing 14 hours after suffering a heartbreaking overtime loss to host Canada and seeing its gold medal hopes dashed, the United States was sluggish and out of sync for the game’s first two-and-a-half quarters. The Dominican Republic built a 21-point lead and looked as though it was on its way to winning the bronze medal.
“It was not looking good,” USA and Gonzaga University head coach Mark Few said. “We waited until our backs were firmly pinned against the proverbial wall, and then we responded. Through that whole time, though, Ron Baker was just playing his tail off, and I think that kind of kept us alive.
“And then Bobby (Brown) got going, and Damien (Wilkins) had a couple of big plays, everybody — Taurean (Waller-Prince) got us going and knocked a couple of balls loose. We just started being way more proactive,” Few added.
Trailing 63-42 with 4:29 left in the third quarter, the United States kept fighting, slowly turned momentum around and crept back into the game. Ultimately outscoring Dominican Republic 40-16 during the final 14:29 of the game, the USA earned the improbable 87-82 win.
It was an up-hill battle for the United States from the opening tip.
Trailing 26-15 after the first quarter, the Americans needed a Wilkins 3-pointer with 22 seconds left in the second quarter to only trail 48-35 at halftime.
The third quarter featured the Dominicans sinking four 3s, and the last one pushed their lead to 66-47 with 2:30 left in the third quarter.
Stepping up its defensive pressure and getting into transition, the United States got rolling, and after outscoring its opponents 12-2 to end the third stanza, only trailed 68-59 heading into the final period.
The re-energized Americans kept up the frantic pace and tallied a 19-7 spurt to help the USA take its first lead, 78-75, with 4:03 left in the contest. The go-ahead points came by way of a hustle play by Wilkins, who beat a Dominican Republic player to a loose ball in the backcourt, went in and scored and was fouled. Converting the free throw, the United States took a 78-75 lead.
Dominican Republic appeared to have turned back the USA rally when it scored six-consecutive points to regain control, 81-78, with 2:26 to play.
Prince made his only 3-pointer of the contest to tie the game at 81 with 1:56 left, and Wilkins, the USA’s 35-year-old veteran, grabbed a Brown missed and scored the put back to give the U.S. an 83-81 lead with 1:04 on the clock.
Juan Garcia went to the foul line for Dominican Republic, and after making one of his two charity tries, the score was 83-82 with 58 seconds remaining.
Brown pushed the U.S. lead to 85-82 with 25.7 seconds to go with a runner, and a game-tying 3-pointer by Dominican Republic was off target. Prince secured the rebound and was fouled with 9.6 seconds to play. Prince calmly made both free throws to seal the USA’s remarkable 87-82 comeback victory.
In the battle on the boards, the United States outrebounded Dominican Republic 35-32. Fifteen of the U.S. rebounds were offensive and resulted in 19 second-chance points.
The USA made a cool 44.1 percent of its shots, and while Dominican Republic shot 48.3 percent for the game, the U.S. defense forced the Dominicans into just 37 percent shooting in the second half.
The USA was short-handed in the game as Keith Langford (UNICS Kazan, Russia/Fort Worth, Texas) and Anthony Randolph (Lokomotiv-Kuban, Russia/ Pasadena, California) were injured an unable to play.
Morgan City High alum and University of Louisiana at Lafayette standout Shawn Long also did not play in Friday or Saturday’s contest.
Assisting Few with the 2015 U.S. Pan American men’s basketball team was University of Colorado’s Tad Boyle and longtime NBA coach Mike Brown.
Overall, the Americans now have compiled a 90-17 all-time win-loss record and captured eight gold medals, three silver medals and three bronze medals.
USA falls to Canada
The USA and Canada battled back-and-forth for 40 minutes for the right to advance to the 2015 Pan American Games gold medal contest, and when the game was tied at 97 after four quarters, they carried on in overtime.
Only when a USA 3-point attempt at the buzzer was off target did Canada earn the 111-108 victory.
The USA offense featured four players scoring in double figures. Bobby Brown scored 25 points and dished out a game-best seven assists, Randolph contributed 21 points and a USA-high six rebounds, Baker added 15 points and three steals and Valentine tossed in 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
Canada led by a single point, 24-23, after the first 10 minutes and by halftime had upped its lead to five points, 52-47.
The U.S. fell behind 60-54, but assembled a 9-2 scoring surge to move ahead 63-62 with 5:01 remaining following a basket from Wilkins.
With Canada up 68-67, Valentine drained three straight 3s during the next 57 seconds to push the Americans ahead 76-71.
After Ryan Hollins (Sacramento Kings/Pasadena, California) scored on a put back and Randolph sank two free throws, the U.S. entered the fourth period owning an 80-74 advantage.
Canada dominated the early minutes of the fourth and posted an 11-2 scoring run to jump in front 85-82, and the two teams slugged it out for the remainder of the quarter.
Canada and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Anthony Bennett scored his side’s first five points in overtime as America’s neighbor to the north sprinted out to a 102-97 lead.
But behind two points from Kaleb Tarczewski (Arizona/Claremont, New Hampshire) and four more from Baker, the USA surged back in front 103-102 with 2:05 left in overtime.
A 3-pointer from Randolph cushioned the USA lead to 106-104 with 1:45 remaining, but Canada’s Jamal Murray made back-to-back 3-pointers to give his side a 110-106 lead with 55.9 seconds left.
Following a free throw by Canada, Brown scored to reduce the lead to three, 111-108. Murray, who finished with 31 points, missed a deep 3-point attempt and with 7.1 seconds to play in overtime.
Following a USA timeout, the United States inbounded the ball from the sidelines and found Brown. Brown found space in the corner and launched the would-be game winner. However, it missed the mark, giving Canada the emotional win in front of its ecstatic crowd.