Page 23 - ARUBA TODAY

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SPORTS Wednesday 4 september 2019

Great Escape

Continued from Page 18 ed 15 for Turkey — which
was within a hair of one of
The U.S. wasted a 15-point the biggest wins in its bas-
lead in the first half, didn’t ketball history, on a night
trail until the final moments when it seemed like all
of regulation, needed two 18,000 whistling and hoot-
free throws from Jayson ing fans at the Shanghai
Tatum with one-tenth of a Oriental Sports Center were
second left just to get into in their favor.
overtime, came back from “I need mental strength
five points down in the ex- to overcome this,” Turkey
tra session and — if all that coach Ufuk Sarica said.
wasn’t enough — needed The Americans have now
Turkey to go 0 for 4 from won 21 consecutive World
the foul line in the last 9 Cup games, extending the
seconds. “It means a lot. record for any nation at
It means a lot, man,” U.S. FIBA’s signature event. The
guard Kemba Walker said. U.S. also extended its win-
Dogus Balbay missed a pair ning streak to 55 games in
following an intentional foul international tournaments United States’ Jayson Tatum tries to get past Turkey defenders during a Group E match for the
with the U.S. down one, with NBA players on the ros- FIBA Basketball World Cup at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai on Tuesday, Sept.
and Cedi Osman missed ter, starting with the bronze- 3, 2019.
two more about a second medal game at the 2006 Associated Press
later. Those misses by Os- world championships. time left, but officials put and it stayed tight the rest and Brook Lopez (then with
man set up the last U.S. And they clinched a spot one-tenth of a second on of the way. Brooklyn).
possession, one where Ta- in the second round — after review. “Every team wants to beat THE SERIES
tum controlled a rebound, though that seemed ancil- He made the first. The sec- us,” Turner said. “Every The U.S. is now 3-0 against
brought the ball down and lary. ond rimmed out. The third, team will give us their best Turkey, after matchups
found Middleton for a drive “We capped it off at the with the game on the line, shot. But more than any- in each of the last three
to the rim. Tatum went end,” U.S. center Myles rattled home. thing, we stick together.” World Cups. The Americans
down, spraining his left an- Turner said. “All that mat- “JT, that kid is 21 years old, TIP-INS endured a raucous home
kle on the play. ters. JT, Kemba, Khris, a lot man,” Walker said of his U.S.: Jason Williams, the crowd to beat Turkey 81-64
The U.S. didn’t go down of guys made big plays Boston teammate. “He was point guard on Miami’s in the gold-medal game of
with him. down the stretch.” huge for us.” 2006 NBA title team, was the world championships
Middleton made both, Er- Ilyasova’s tip-in with 12.3 The U.S. led 41-26 in the sec- in the stands. ... The U.S. at Istanbul in 2010, then ral-
san Ilyasova missed a jump- seconds remaining in regu- ond quarter when Turkey won despite shooting 35 lied from a five-point half-
er for Turkey as time expired lation gave Turkey its first got a spark from a guard — percent. ... USA Basketball time deficit to beat Turkey
and the U.S. survived. lead at 81-79. Turkey had from Gainesville, Florida. said it was the first time a 98-77 in the second game
“It really hurts,” Turkey’s Fur- gone 0 for 9 on shots to Scottie Wilbekin, who roster with NBA players was of the 2014 World Cup.
kan Korkmaz said. “I think take the lead before Ilyaso- played four years of col- taken to overtime since a LIN APPEARS
it was in our hands — not va’s swat bounced off the lege ball for Florida and win over Brazil in the 2001 Jeremy Lin, who signed
their hands.” rim and dropped through got his Turkish passport Goodwill Games. last month with the Beijing
Middleton led the U.S. with the net. last year, fueled a 12-0 run Turkey: The loss dropped Ducks to continue his ca-
15 points. Walker, who sin- The U.S. went for the win that awoke the pro-Turkey Turkey to 21-8 in its last 29 reer after playing for eight
gle-handedly accounted on the ensuing possession, crowd. He got it going with World Cup games. ... Wil- NBA teams in a span of nine
for the rally from down five, first with Middleton missing a 3-pointer, fed Ilyasova bekin had faced U.S. play- seasons, was at the game.
scored 14. Tatum finished a 3-pointer and then the for another 3 not long af- ers before — in college at Lin is best remembered for
with 11 points and 11 re- ball finding Tatum as the terward and converted a Florida he played against the “Linsanity” stint with
bounds. last seconds ticked away. four-point play with 3:12 left Harris (Virginia) and Middle- the New York Knicks that
Ilyasova led Turkey with 23 He got fouled by Osman as in the half. ton (Texas A&M), and in vaulted him to temporary
points. Melih Mahmutoglu he took a 3-point attempt The U.S. lead was 46-41 at the 2015 NBA preseason for stardom, as well as getting
had 18, Furkan Korkmaz from the top of the key; the break, Turkey tied the Philadelphia he faced Har- an NBA title last season with
scored 16 and Osman add- the scoreboard showed no game in the third quarter, ris (then with Cleveland) the Toronto Raptors. q

Roglic thrives in Vuelta time trial, takes overall lead

PAU, France (AP) — Primoz Frenchman Rémi Cavag- Vuelta lead, opened a López fell more than 2 “Three minutes is a lot,”
Roglic earned a dominant na of team Deceuninck- gap of nearly two minutes minutes behind Roglic. the veteran Colombian
victory in the individual Quick Step was third, 27 over second-place Ale- “We will have a lot of op- said. “In this situation we
time trial Tuesday to take seconds off the lead. jandro Valverde of Movi- portunities,” the Colom- have lost races and we
the overall lead of the “I’m happy with the per- star Team. bian rider said. “Hopefully have won races. We have
Spanish Vuelta. formance, for sure,” said “It was everything as ex- we will still be in the fight in nothing to lose. We are at
The Jumbo-Visma rider the 29-year-old Roglic, a pected,” Valverde said. the end.” least going to try.”
won the 36-kilometer (22- former ski jumper. “The “Roglic was the favorite Valverde’s teammate Tuesday’s time trial came
mile) 10th stage in the goal was to try to go as for this time trial and he Nairo Quintana, who was after the first rest day in
French city Pau with a fast as possible all the time showed why. I had a de- wearing the leader’s red the three-week Grand
time that was 25 seconds and, yeah, it was enough cent time trial. There is a jersey entering Tuesday’s Tour race that this year
faster than second-place in the end.” long way to go and we stage, dropped to fourth is without many top rid-
Patrick Bevin, a New Zea- Roglic, only the second are still in it.” place, three minutes off ers, including defending
lander from CCC Team. Slovenian to take the Third-place Miguel Ángel the lead. champion Simon Yates.q