Slovenia Tops USA All-Stars in First Action in China

Carl Berman

22 Jun 2015

Blog

2 comments

Chenzhou, China – Slovenia used a strong run in the first half to take control of the game and defeat the NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars 87-77 in the first tour game for the USA team. The Slovenians used crisp passing and hot shooting from long range to turn a 10-2 deficit into a 51-36 halftime lead. The USA played better in the second half but it was too little – too late for the American team. 6’9 Sasa Zagorac and 6’4 Miha Lahornik combined to shoot 9-of-12 from long-distance. Both those players along with 6’7 Blaz Mahkovic led the winners with 16 points each. Andrew Warren led the USA with 13 points.

It was the first game action for the USA All-Stars after the long trip and only 1.5 practices and it showed. The USA was charged with 22 turnovers and only had 10 assists. Team USA shot only 41 percent on two-pointers and 8-of-23 (34.7%) from long-distance. The Americans had a +4 rebounding advantage but when the game was on the line the smaller Slovenians had the edge. The USA had the edge at the foul line as Slovenia was called with 28 fouls against only 13 against the Americans.

USA All-Stars Head Coach Bruce Chavka: “22 turnovers won’t win many games in any league. We took too many quick shots and need to make the extra pass. We seemed lethargic after our strong start. We need to do a better job of fighting through screens and playing help defense”.

Want an interesting fact about Chenzhou? This area contains the largest bridge over a land mass in the world. This tournament is named after it, the “Paradise Fairy Bridge” Continental Basketball Tournament.

NetScouts Basketball USA All-Stars (21-15-17-24 = 77)

Johnathan Loyd (Oregon) 2 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 3 steals

Garrett Nevels (Hawaii) 7 points, 1 rebound

Tyler Gaffaney (Claremont) 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists

Tyrone White (Bakersfield/D-League) 12 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist

Andrew Warren (Bradley/D-League) 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal

Kyle Coston (Portland State/New Zealand) 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist

Keith Chamberlain (Grinnell/D-League) 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal

Josiah Heath (Canisius) 5 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist

Teeng Akol (Western Kentucky/Mongolia) 7 points, 3 rebounds

Joe Wolfinger (Citadel/Japan) 12 points, 7 rebounds

China came back from a late double-digit deficit to top Denmark in the second game 77-74. China won despite being out-rebounded 44-24. The Chinese had a +14 advantage on free throw attempts and took advantage of poor free throw shooting from Denmark (14-of-31).

We are located in the foothills of the mountains in a Hot Spring resort. For some reason all the “hot” springs in the hotel are cold, except for one domed area. We’re about 20 minutes from the city and are more or less staying at the hotel unless we are going to a game or practice. The hotel is nice, the food is excellent but there was a power failure, probably resulting from a thunderstorm, that kept us in the dark for about two hours last night. Today we are off to Jiahe, about a two hour bus drive, to play Denmark at 4PM local time in likely a very hot gym.

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