U.S. falls to Brazil on July 23

TORONTO — In a game to determine Group A’s No. 1 seed for the Pan American Games medal round semifinals, Brazil’s (3-0) offensive rebounding and 3-point accuracy doomed the USA (2-1) as the American men fell 93-83 Thursday night in Toronto.
Already assured before the game of advancing to the medal round semifinals, with the loss the USA finished second in Group A and will meet host and Group B No. 1 seed Canada (3-0) at 5 p.m. in one of today’s two semifinal games. The game is scheduled to be broadcast live on ESPN2. Brazil faced Group B’s No. 2 seed, Dominican Republic (1-2), in the 12:30 p.m. semifinal.
“I think the first thing is us, again, keeping our composure when we hit adversity,” said USA head coach Mark Few about the USA’s semifinal game.
“They’ve got their two NBA guys inside in (Anthony) Bennett and (Andrew) Nicholson, and we really got to keep them off the glass.” he said. “This is probably the other very, very good rebounding team in this tournament, and I think that will be a real big key. And then (Brady) Heslip is really shooting it well from 3, not unlike Vitor Benite, so we cannot let him get going from 3.”
Keith Langford paced the USA’s offensive effort against Brazil scoring 17 points, Bobby Brown and Taurean Prince (Baylor/San Antonio, Texas) each added 16 points and Anthony Randolph chipped in 15 points.
Thursday’s other results saw Argentina (1-2) defeat Dominican Republic 80-70; Puerto Rico (1-2) upended Venezuela (0-3) 89-72; and Canada ran away from Mexico (1-2) 96-76.
The 2015 Pan American Games men’s basketball competition is being held July 21-25 in Toronto, Canada.
The top two finishing teams from each preliminary-round group will advance to the medal-round semifinals on July 24, while the third and fourth-placed teams will play for fifth-eighth places. The semifinal winners will compete for the gold medal on July 25, and the semifinal losers will play for bronze.
Assisting Few with the 2015 U.S. Pan American Men’s Basketball Team is University of Colorado’s Tad Boyle and longtime NBA coach Mike Brown.
Overall, the Americans have now compiled an 89-16 record and captured eight gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals.
--From USAB.com