MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina -- Levon Kendall scored a
tournament-high 40 points and Canada upset the United States 93-90
in overtime Friday, dashing American hopes of a second straight
men's Under 21 basketball world championship.
The U.S. led 82-80 until Kendall scored with 30 seconds left to
send the game into overtime. Kendall also had 12 rebounds and three
assists to lead Canada (4-3) into the semifinals.
The United States (5-1) will play Saturday in the fifth-place
game against Puerto Rico, an unexpected 88-63 loser to Greece in
the quarterfinal played right the Americans' loss.
Canada will face Greece on Saturday in the semifinals.
Australia (6-0), which defeated Slovenia 89-80 on Friday, will
face Lithuania (5-1) -- a 76-63 winner over host Argentina -- in the
other semifinal.
U.S. teams won the tournament in 1993 and 2001, and this squad
was the overwhelming favorite.
"Personally, I had a great afternoon," Kendall said. "As a
team we did a hard defense and took good shots. It is the first
time I hit 40 points in one match."
Villanova guard Allan Ray led the Americans with 16 points,
making 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
Canada led 46-41 at halftime, but the U.S. went ahead 82-80 on a
3-pointer by Rajon Rondo. After Kendall's tying basket, U.S. guard
Marcus Williams missed a potential game-winning 3 with four seconds
left.
Vladimir Kuljanin and Kendall each added four points for Canada
in overtime.
"Canada's performance was outstanding," U.S. coach Phil
Martelli of Saint Joseph's said. "Kendall had 40 points, but as a
team they played very well. Their defense was exceptional. They
took 16 offensive rebounds.
"Our mistake was that we scored fewer points than they."
Earlier Friday in relegation-round play, Yotam Halperin had a
game-high 24 points and Israel beat China 95-74 to send the Asians
home with their sixth loss in six and a last-place finish in the
11-team tournament.
Israel (2-4) advanced to a Saturday match against Nigeria for
ninth place.
Twelve teams were to have competed in the tournament but Iran
pulled out just before the start because of Israel's participation.