Former Juneau-Douglas High School basketball star Carlos Boozer Jr. scored 14 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds Thursday as Team USA came from behind to beat Yugoslavia 87-77 in an exhibition game at Southern Methodist University's Moody Coliseum in Dallas.
Boozer, who will be a junior center-power forward for Duke University this fall, likely earned a spot on the USA World Championship for Young Men Team with his performance. The 13 finalists for the squad made up Team USA in Thursday night's game, and one finalist was to be cut from the team Thursday night. The cut wasn't expected to be announced until today.
The 12 remaining players will be in Oakland, Calif., today for more training over the weekend, then they head to Saitama, Japan, for the 2001 FIBA World Championship for Young Men Tournament to be held Aug. 3-12. The 12-team tournament is for players born in 1980 or later.
In Thursday's game, Yugoslavia's age 22-and-younger team jumped out to a 27-8 lead after the first quarter, but Team USA closed the gap to 44-33 at halftime. Connecticut's Caron Butler scored Team USA's first 11 points of the third quarter, as Team USA continued its comeback, but Yugoslavia surged back to a 10-point lead late in the quarter. Team USA closed out the quarter with a 10-0 run to tie the score at 62-62.
The game stayed close for most of fourth quarter, with Butler finally giving Team USA the lead for good with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left, as the U.S. took a 79-77 advantage. Team USA forced Yugoslavia into a couple of shot-clock violations, then Chris Duhon hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left to seal the victory. Team USA scored the game's final five points after Duhon's 3-pointer.
Besides Butler's game-high 24 points and the 14 from Boozer, the only other player in double figures for Team USA was Nick Collison of Kansas with 10 points. Team USA is coached by Jim Boeheim, who coaches at Syracuse University.
Steva Nadejl scored 21 points to lead Yugoslavia.
