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 Tournament.
Boozer scored 18 points on 9-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-country tournament. The Americans will next play Japan on Tuesday.
Kansas University forward Nick Collison, who started his third straight game, scored three points on 1-of-4 shooting. He hit one of three free throws, grabbed one rebound in 14 minutes.
Collison picked up four fouls. Duhon’s four steals tied a USA single game record for most steals. Corey Brewer (versus Turkey in 1997) and KU’s Steve Woodberry (versus Angola in 1993) also had four steals.
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.”
Illinois forward Brian Cook twisted his ankle early in the third period. He returned later in the quarter and hit a three-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.
