U.S. team crushes Puerto Rico in Pan Am Games pool play

The United States men’s basketball team advanced to the medal round of the Pan Am Games with a 102-70 rout of Puerto Rico on Wednesday in Toronto.

Team USA finishes Group A pool play at 8 p.m. Thursday against Brazil. Both teams are 2-0 and both will play in Friday’s semifinals against the top two teams from Pool B.

Wichita State’s Ron Baker started his second game and scored four points, making 2 of 7 shots, and grabbed six rebounds. He provided one of the game’s highlights by hitting center Kaleb Tarcewski with a a behind-the-back pass for a basket on a fast break in the third quarter. Teammate Keith Langford, who played at Kansas, scored nine, all in the first half.

Former Shocker Ramon Clemente scored five points and grabbed two rebounds for Puerto Rico. Former Jayhawk Kevin Young scored six points for Puerto Rico.

Guard Bobby Brown led Team USA with 16 points.

The United States made 11 of 30 three-pointers, 10 of 17 three-pointers in the first half It led by 10 points after one quarter and outscored Puerto Rico 36-10 in the second 10 minutes to lead 65-29 at halftime. Brown and Damien Wilkens both scored 15 points in the first half. Brown, who plays professionally in China, made 5 of 6 threes.

Puerto Rico, coached by Louisville’s Rick Pitino, shot 30 percent from the field and missed 24 of 27 threes.

The United States trailed 7-6 before building a 29-19 lead after the first quarter. It made 5 of 8 three-pointers in the quarter, two by Brown in the first quarter.

Bahner in eighth — Former WSU athlete Austin Bahner is in eighth place in the decathlon after the first day in Toronto with 3,871 points.

Bahner ran a time of 10.87 seconds in his 100-meter heat. He finished fifth in the long jump, earning 878 points, with a leap of 23 feet, 8 1/2 inches. In the shot put, he finished 12th with a throw of 40-10. He jumped 6-3/4 in the high jump to tie for ninth. In the 400, he finished seventh in heat with a time of 50.36 seconds.

This story was originally published July 22, 2015 at 10:06 PM with the headline "U.S. team crushes Puerto Rico in Pan Am Games pool play."