FIBA U17 - USA, China, Australia into quarters with wins; Egypt still alive

KAUNAS (2012 FIBA U17 World Championship) – Defending champions United States moved into the Quarter-Finals of the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship with a win over France in Group A while Australia and China also moved into the final eight with the Czech Republic, the French and Egypt all still alive for the knockout stage.

Jahlil Okafor led three players in double figures with 21 points and 13 rebounds as the USA knocked off France 86-50 to improve to 4-0. Stanley Johnson added 12 points and 10 rebounds and Conner Frankamp had 12 points as well.

France dropped to 1-3 despite getting 14 points from Petr Cornelie.

Australia survived a dog fight from African champions Egypt in winning 88-73 in double overtime to improve to 3-1. Dante Exum scored 9 of his 23 points in the second overtime and added 6 rebounds and 7 assists while Ben Simmons collected 13 points and 14 rebounds and Mirko Djeric had 22 points and 8 assists.

Ehab Amin paced Egypt – now 0-4 in Group A – with 23 points but he missed two free-throws and a lay-up in the final two minutes of the first overtime. Omar Abdeen also missed two foul shots for Egypt in that stretch as the Africans missed a great chance to notch their first victory.

“We’re not disappointed at all,” said Amin.

“Today we played well. This is the first game we played our system on offense and defense.  Tomorrow we will show 100 percent of our basketball.”

China are also 3-1 after coming back from a nine-point deficit after three quarters to beat the Czech Republic 71-68.

Zhao Ji Wei tallied 20 points including two free throws with 2.4 seconds left while Zhou Qi added 10 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks for the Chinese.

Radovan Kouril scored 20 points for the Czechs but his three-point attempt at the buzzer was off, dropping them to 1-3. Martin Peterka collected 15 points and 16 rebounds in the losing effort.

The last day of Preliminary Round action in Group A has Egypt taking on the Czech Republic needing a victory by around 40 points and a loss by France against Australia to reach the quarters.

The final Group A game has USA taking on China in what will likely decide the group winner.

FIBA