SAITAMA, Japan -- Caron Butler of Connecticut scored 21
points and keyed a third-quarter run Wednesday, leading the United
States past Israel 98-74 for a quarterfinal berth in the World
Basketball Championship for Young Men.
Carlos Boozer of Duke added 16 points for the Americans, who
improved to 5-0 in the 12-nation tournament for players under 21.
The Americans will play Slovenia on Friday.
"The more we play together the stronger we get," said Boozer,
the team's leading scorer in the tournament.
Israel lost for the first time and will face the Domincan
Republic in the next round. In other quarterfinals, Spain plays
Croatia and Australia faces Argentina.
The United States trailed 29-26 at the end of the first period
and led 52-51 at the half. Then Butler took charge with eight
points in the first half of the third period. The United States
held Israel scoreless for the first seven minutes of the period.
"It was a game of runs and we played as well you could ask a
team to play at the start of the third quarter," U.S. coach Jim
Boeheim of Syracuse said.
The United States went on an 11-point run in the fourth quarter,
and Marcus Taylor's 3-pointer with just more than a minute
remaining sealed the victory.
"We started out slowly but in the second half it was more a
question of our defense creating fast break opportunities,"
Boeheim said. "And if we can play like that the rest of the way we
should be fine."
In a game to determine fourth place in Group B and a
quarterfinal spot, Croatia downed Japan 105-77.
Japan will face Qatar on Friday in the consolation round to
determine the ninth through 12th places. South Korea will meet
Egypt in Friday's other consolation game.
In Group A, Stephen Black scored 16 points to lead defending
champion Australia to a 90-68 victory over winless Qatar.
Spain cruised to a 116-45 victory over Egypt after getting 23
points from Jose Lopez. Spain and Australia each finished the
preliminary round with nine points, but Spain finishes atop Group A
because of its preliminary round victory over Australia.
The Dominican Republic, led by Benito Flores with 28 points,
edged Slovenia 84-81 to take third place in Group A. Slovenia
finished fourth.
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