SAITAMA, Japan -- Duke teammates Carlos Boozer and Chris
Duhon led the United States to an 84-71 victory over Argentina on
Sunday at the World Basketball Championship for Young Men.
Boozer scored 18 points on nine of 11 shooting and Duhon finished
with 17 as the Americans ran their record to 3-0 in the tournament
for players under 21 years old.
The United States sent Argentina to its first loss in the
12-nation tournament. The Americans will next play Japan on
Tuesday.
Duhon hit a 3-pointer with just more than two minutes remaining
to make it 82-67, putting the game out of reach.
"I got a lot of extra shots before the game," he said. "The
ball just kept falling in for me, and hopefully I can keep it going
the rest of the way."
These teams last met at the qualifying tournament in Brazil a
year ago when Argentina won 92-77.
"We shot the ball well," said U.S. coach Jim Boeheim of
Syracuse. "They might have been quicker to the ball, but we made
most of our shots and that was the difference."
Boozer was especially strong after not playing much during
Saturday's 128-73 win over South Korea.
Illinois forward Brian Cook twisted his ankle early in the third
period. He returned later in the quarter and scored a 3-pointer to
give the United States a 70-61 lead entering the last period.
In other Group B games, Naor Matan was 4-for-5 from the 3-point
line as undefeated Israel downed Croatia 82-70. Croatia dropped to
0-3.
Japan's Yuta Tabuse, a junior at Brigham Young-Hawaii, hit a
jumper with 42 seconds left in the second overtime, giving the host
country a 111-108 win over South Korea. It was Japan's first
victory of the tournament.
In Group A, Slovenia held on for a 74-64 victory over Spain in a
meeting of undefeated teams. Slovenia's Dragan Miletic hit two
3-pointers in the final period for the European champions.
"Slovenia is a great team," Spanish coach Francisco Garcia
said. "They played great defense and our players just didn't make
the shots they needed to make."
Egypt (1-2) got 29 points from Amir El-Fannon to record its
first win, a 79-64 victory over winless Qatar.
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