June 27, 2009
BELGRADE, Serbia. (June 27, 2009) -- Da'Sean Butler (West Virginia / Newark, N.J.) scored a team-high 20 points to lead the 2009 USA Men's World University Games Team (1-0) to a come-from-behind victory over Canada (0-1) 85-81 in the 2009 Serbia International Invitational on Saturday night in Belgrade. The U.S., which trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half and utilized a 28-14 fourth-quarter surge to clinch the win, was aided in the victory by Corey Fisher (Villanova / Bronx, N.Y.) with 11 points, while Lazar Hayward (Marquette / Buffalo, N.Y.) and Deon Thompson (North Carolina / Torrance, Calif.) tossed in 10 points apiece.
In the night's earlier contest, Serbia (1-0) defeated Russia (0-1) 103-101 in overtime.
"We were anxious with the ball early, thinking we could get some quick scores without making sure that we had our angles properly set up for our post feeds, making sure the skip passes were where they needed to be," said USA and University of Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. "We did not do a good job of ball-faking and making Canada react to us. In the second half it was a whole different ball game. Defense was the difference in the fourth quarter, no question. We got them to take some tough shots and took them out of their comfort zone. But again, they are not as big as what we are going to face down the road."
Staring down a 10-point, 67-57 hole with one quarter to go, Fisher fed Thompson for two points to kick-start the USA's comeback. The eventual 12-0 run ended with a Thompson steal, resulting in an Evan Turner (Ohio State / Chicago, Ill.) 3-pointer at 7:30 that gave the U.S. its first lead of the game, 69-67.
"(The fourth quarter) was a change in attitude, demeanor, everything," said Butler. "Evan really knocked down a big 3-pointer that put us up by two points. To have him make that shot lifted everybody's spirits, and everybody was just excited to get back on defense and get the ball back."
Canada took a time-out following Turner's three, and from there the game see-sawed with four tied scores and three lead changes. At 2:43 Canada's David Collins made a 3-point play that knotted the score at 76-all. Forty seconds later Thompson hit one-of-two from the line to give the United States the lead for good, 77-76. The USA then went up 82-78, but Canada's Chris Dyck hit his squad's ninth and final three of the game to pull back to one, 82-81, at 1:05. That was Canada's final points as Fisher scored one from the line and Quincy Pondexter (Washington / Fresno, Calif.) finished off the game with a dunk with nine seconds to go.
In addition to his 11 points, Fisher, who was in the starting lineup, added three steals and a pair of assists in 16 minutes. He was 5-of-9 from the field.
