Flynn, Beverley inspire U.S. to victory against France
NOVI SAD, Serbia -- Jonny Flynn had a team-high 18 points and five steals and the United States held on for an 87-82 win over France Wednesday to finish group play unbeaten at the Under-19 World Basketball Championships.
The U.S. (6-0) will play Argentina (3-3) in the medal quarterfinals on Friday after the Argentines finished fourth in Group F Wednesday at the FIBA World Championship. Australia was the Group F winner, beating Spain to finish unbeaten in second-round play.
Flynn was joined in double figures by Patrick Beverley (17 points), Michael Beasley (17 points) and Raymar Morgan (10 points).
"We're trying to go from game to game and find the right combination," Team USA and DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright said in a statement. "I know we stumbled a little bit at the end. I think we got a little bit tired and they came after us, we got a little bit loose with the ball. But I thought that for a spurt we played as good a game of basketball that we've played all tournament."
In other preliminary round play, Brazil, (3-3) defeated China (1-5) 89-77, Serbia (5-1) beat Lithuania (2-4) 89-76, South Korea (2-4) upset Turkey (3-3) 104-96 and Canada (3-3) beat Argentina (3-3) 87-82.
The top three teams from each of the four preliminary round groups advance to the second round, which runs July 16-18. Quarterfinals are set for July 20, the semifinals on July 21 and the gold medal game on July 22.
