SAN JUAN, 25 August 2003 — Vince Carter and Kenyon Martin led an exhibition of slam-dunks as the US thrashed the Virgin Islands 113-55 on Saturday to end their opening round of games at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament with a 4-0 record.
Missing from the line-up, however, was San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, who was born in the Virgin Islands but opted out of playing as he did not feel it was appropriate to compete against the country of his birth. Duncan is now a naturalized US citizen.
Head coach Larry Brown opted for a shorter starting lineup but height was not a factor as his side put together a 20-0 scoring run in the second quarter for a 60-32 half-time lead on the back of 77 percent shooting.
Gone was the sloppiness of Friday’s game (a workmanlike win over Venezuela) as Allen Iverson and Jason Kidd fed Carter and Martin repeatedly for dramatic slam-dunks, much to the delight of the packed arena.
The Virgin Islands had no answer at either end of the court and the second half descended into a silky-skills contest for nearly every player on the US team.
Iverson went 7-for-9 from the field to lead all scorers with 17 points — including three 3-pointers — in just 18:03 of action. Martin, who finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, believes the US is coming together as a team and is looking forward to the second round. Carter and the little-used Nick Collinson both added 14 points apiece for the US Jameel Heywood top-scored with 13 points for the Virgin Islands, who was to play Venezuela to decide which team advances to the next round from Group B.
In the late game, Marcelo Magalhaes scored 20 points to lead Brazil to a 96-87 win over Venezuela. Brazil and the Dominican Republic — who were idle on Saturday — have identical 2-1 records and are assured of qualification into the second phase.
In Group A action, Canada held on to defeat a stubborn Uruguay 90-84 behind Rowan Barrett’s 22 points and solid support from the reserves. Canada struggled in the first half, shooting just 3-for-14 from the three point line.
