DUBAI (FIBA U17 World Championship) - The two-time champions United States were tested but prevailed in their opener of the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship against Greece, while Puerto Rico surprised Spain in their tournament debut and Australia needed overtime to knock off up-start Japan.

The USA were never seriously threatened in the second half in grabbing a 83-73 victory over Greece in Group A. Diamond Stone was top scorer for the Americans with 22 points while also picking up 10 rebounds and four blocks. Malik Newman added 12 points and Jayson Tatum had 10 points in the win. Vasileios Charalampopoulos led the Greeks with 17 points while Georgios Papagiannis had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Antonios Koniaris chipped in 15 points in the loss.

The Greeks trailed just 32-31 midway through the second quarter when the Americans went on a 13-2 run to break away. Greece would never get closer than eight points the rest of the way as USA had an answer any time the Europeans trimmed it to single digits.

The other game in Group A saw Angola win in a showdown of first-timers against Philippines, 82-72. Joao Jungo had 26 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks as one of three Angolans with double-doubles along with Eric Amandio (17 and 12) and Valdir Manuel (10 and 13). Jolo Mendoza scored 16 points and swiped four steals for Philippines, who made just five of 35 three-pointers (14%).

Puerto Rico also were playing their first U17 Worlds game but didn't look overwhelmed as they downed the 2013 U16 European champions Spain 67-65 in Group C. Leandro Allende scored 16 points and Arnaldo Toro added 13 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks as Puerto Rico had a clear advantage at the free-throw line making 17 of 20 attemps (85 percent) compared to just 5 of 8 (63 percent) for Spain, who were paced by 15 points each from Santiago Yusta and Xabi Lopez-Arosteguj.

The other game in Group C was a blowout as Italy didn't play down to the level of United Arab Emirates (UAE), beating the hosts 121-32. Leonardo Tote led six Italians in double figures with 22 points, while Valerio Costa and Andrea Pecchia both had 15 points. UAE got 17 points from Mohammad Juma.

Group B almost witnessed an upset before Australia eventually took control of the game in overtime to beat Japan 97-84. The Australians led by 17 points in the second quarter, but Japan used the three-ball to get back into the game.
And Rui Hachimura's long-range effort with four seconds left in regulation tied the game at 77-77. Australia ran away in the extra session, 20-7 for the comfortable win. Dejan Vasiljevic collected 23 points and 11 rebound, while Isaac Humphries had 16 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks for the winners. Hachimura picked up 22 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals in the loss.

Stephane Gombauld had a monster double-double of 28 points and 20 rebounds in leading France to a 76-66 win over Canada in the other Group B encounter.

In Group D, Serbia and Argentina took care of business as favourites, beating China and Egypt respectively.

Serbia eased past China 80-68 with Nikola Rakicevic scoring 17 points while Vojislav Stojanovic had 15 and Stefan Peno added 14 points. China got 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Fu Hao.

Argentina had no trouble with Egypt, winning 74-39 as Maximo Fjellerup collected 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

FIBA