Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

From the Beijing Olympics at Wukesong Basketball Gymnasium, quarterfinal play  …

The United States advanced to Friday’s semifinals by whipping Australia 116-85.

The U.S. will meet the winner of the Argentina-Greece contest, which is now in progress.

Kobe Bryant led five Americans who scored in double figures. He hit four of seven three-point attempts en route to 25 points. Lebron James added 16 points, nine rebounds and four steals, while Carmelo Anthony had 15 points.

Deron Williams and Chris Bosh scored 10 each.

Former University of Kentucky standout Tayshaun Prince had nine points, a rebound and a steal in 13:21 of action. He hit two of three three-point attempts, his only two-point try (a dunk) and one of two free throws.

The U.S. shot 57percent from the field and finished with a 57-28 advantage in rebounds.

Patrick Mills paced Australia with 20 points. Glen Saville added 13, Joe Ingles 11 and Brad Newley 10.

* The 14-0 run to start the second half blew the game open and the United States leads 89-61 heading into the fourth quarter.

Kobe Bryant had nine of those 14 points. Carmelo Anthony added a three-pointer and Jason Kidd had two points.

Tayshaun Prince entered the game with 3:27 left, adding a three-pointer and a thunderous dunk.

*A 14-0 run to open the third quarter has pushed Team USA’s lead to 69-43.

* The U.S. has opened a 55-43 halftime lead.

Rebounding has been big — the Americans have a 31-14 advantage. That has helped make up for poor free-throw shooting (10-for-20) and three-point shooting (3-for-13)

LeBron James has seven rebounds and Dwyane Wade has six.

James and Carmelo Anthony have 12 points each to lead the U.S. Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard have eight apiece.

Former University of Kentucky standout Tayshaun Prince entered the game late in the half and made one of two free throws. He also had a rebound and steal.

Patrick Mills and Brad Newley each have eight points for Australia. Chris Anstey has seven points and four rebounds.

The Aussies are 7-for-11 at the free-throw line and 4-for-11 from three-point range.

* Team USA leads Australia 25-24 after one quarter.

The U.S. scored the first five points and led by nine points several times, the last at 15-6.

Australia battled back to tie at 21 but has not led.

The U.S. is 4-of-11 at the free-throw line.

Dwight Howard leads all scoreres with eight.

This entry was posted on August 20, 2008 at 8:27 am and is filed under Basketball, Carlos Boozer, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Redd, Olympics, Tayshaun Prince, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.