Team USA Wins World Championship For Young Men
8/12/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 12, 2001
SAITAMA, Japan - Michigan State guard Marcus Taylor (Lansing, Mich.) will return from Saitama, Japan with a gold medal around his neck. Taylor and his USA teammates defeated Croatia, 89-80, in Sunday's gold medal game at the World Championship For Young Men. The USA won gold at the inaugural World Championship For Young Men in 1993 and finished fifth in 1997.
"This feels great. This is my first time being in another country and Japan is very unique. I'm just glad we pulled the gold medal out," said the Spartan sophomore guard. "We all had great games and it showed in the end and helped us win the gold medal. It was a lot work, and then there's the time away from home, so it really made it worth while and I'm just glad we got the gold medal. I can't wait to show the medal off and tell everyone I had a great experience in Japan."
Leading the way for the USA were guards Troy Bell (Boston College) and Chris Duhon (Duke) who combined to make 11 3-point shots and scored 43 points. Bell made a USA single game record six 3-pointers on nine attempts and finished with a team best 24 points, while Duhon made five-of-12 3-pointers (the 12 attempts also set a USA game mark), and was credited with 19 points and a USA game record 14 assists.
Taylor did not see action in either the semifinal or final games. He finished the tournament appearing in six contests, averaging 5.7 points, 1.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
"We very seldom beat these teams in international basketball with the 3-point shot. Today we beat them with the 3-point shot," said USA head coach Jim Boeheim. "They were the first team that really put us in a hole. They played extremely well and played an almost perfect first half and the key was those three threes at the end of the first half. If we hadn't made those threes we would have been down 14 of 15 and it would have been very, very difficult to come back.
"Troy Bell really stepped up today. He kept us in there in the first half with the threes, then he made a couple of big ones to start off the second half. He had an exceptional game. Our guards were really just unbelievable and they had to be," added Boeheim.
The United States trailed for most of the first quarter as cold shooting for the first time in the tournament plagued the U.S. The game was tied 22-22 with 1:28 to play in the opening period and Croatia closed the quarter with the final four points to take a 26-22 lead.
Croatia opened a 45-33 lead with 2:32 remaining before half and was on the verge of blowing the game wide open. However, the U.S. guards stepped up and Duhon sank a three, then Bell made two more, and the U.S. had closed the gap to 47-42 at halftime. In the first two quarters, the U.S. shot just 37.9 percent (11-29 FGs), while Croatia was hitting 56.3 percent (18-32 FGs) from the floor, including five-of-10 from 3-point.
Opening the third quarter with the same intensity they closed the second period with, the USA behind five points from Bell and four more from Nick Collison (Kansas) went on a 9-0 run to regain the lead 51-47 with 6:43 to play in the third. With its defense limiting Croatia to 20.0 percent (4-20 FGs) shooting in the period while the USA scorched the nets making 10-of-13 attempts (76.9 percent), when Bell drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer from just inside half court, the USA had taken control 69-59.
Opening a 12-point advantage early in the fourth quarter following a pair of baskets by Caron Butler (Connecticut), Croatia rallied to score nine consecutive points to pull within three, 73-70 with 5:50 to play.
With the USA lead down to a point, 80-79, Duhon took charge. Connecting on a three with 2:05 to play that pushed the USA ahead 84-80, Duhon got the rebound on the other end and made two free throws to give the USA an 85-79 lead with 1:29 to play. On the next possession he was fouled and again converted on both free throws to up the lead to 89-80 and seal the victory.
While Bell and Duhon spearheaded the USA offense, they were not alone. Butler finished with 15 points, four rebounds and three steals, Collison added 15 points and four boards, and Boozer finished with six points and a team high 11 rebounds.
