By KRISTIE RIEKEN
PARIS (AP) — Canyon Barry had 15 points, including a game-winning layup, and the short-handed U.S. men beat France 21-19 on Friday for their first victory in 3×3 pool play at the Paris Olympics.
The U.S., which played without star Jimmer Fredette for a second straight game because of a lower extremity injury, dropped its first four games of the tournament.
“We had to get that one and we did,” Barry said. “Huge credit to the whole team to battle in that atmosphere and through all this adversity with three people. It’s a statement win for us.”
France took the lead on a basket by Franck Seguela with 90 seconds to go. Barry, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry, then took over.
He scored a basket before making two of the underhanded free throws his father made famous to leave the U.S. one point from the win.
Timothe Vergiat got France within one on a basket with less than a minute to go before Barry drove into the lane and made an off-balance layup to close it out with 50 seconds remaining. Barry sat on the court and screamed as his teammates jumped around him celebrating.
U.S. player Kareem Maddox said the message before the game was simple.
“Just fight,” he said. “I feel a lot of responsibility to fight and just keep fighting. That’s all you can do and Jimmer is right there with us, helping us every step of the way.”
Seguela had seven points and seven rebounds for France, which dropped to 2-4 in pool play.
Latvia 21, Serbia 14
Francis Lacis and Karlis Lasmanis each had eight points to help defending champion Latvia improve to 6-0 in pool play by topping Serbia for its second win Friday.
A 3-0 run got Serbia within three with about four minutes to go. Latvia went on a 5-1 run, highlighted by a 2-pointer from Lasmanis, to end it with 2:13 remaining.
Latvia made seven 2-point shots to just two by Serbia.
Dejan Majstorovic had seven points for Serbia. The Tokyo bronze medal winner fell to 3-2 in pool play.
Latvia 22, France 20
Nauris Miezis had 10 points and his 2-pointer with 41 seconds left helped Latvia top France in the first game of the day for both teams Friday.
Seguela’s basket for France with just more than a minute left tied it at 20. Miezis then hit his fourth 2-pointer of the game to give Latvia the win.
Seguela had 10 points for France.
Seguela and Timothe Vergiat made consecutive 2-pointers to put France up 17-15 with 2½ minutes to go. But Miezis made a 2-pointer to start a 4-0 run that put Latvia up 19-17.
Lucas Dussoulier hit a 2-pointer to tie it before Lasmanis’ basket put Latvia up by one with about 90 seconds left.
Netherlands 21, Poland 17
Worthy de Jong, Arvin Slagter and Dimeo van der Horst each scored six points to help the Netherlands to the win.
The game was tied before the Netherlands used a 5-1 run, with the first three points coming from Slagter, to take a 19-15 lead with about two minutes to go.
Poland scored the next two points, but van der Horst made a basket before Slagter’s free throw ended it with 1:22 remaining.
Przemysław Zamojski had eight points for Poland, which fell to 2-3 in pool play.
Netherlands 19, Lithuania 18
The Netherlands improved to 4-2 in pool play by beating Lithuania for its second win Friday.
The game was tied with 33 seconds left after a 2-point shot by Evaldas Dziaugys. Slagter then made a 2-pointer before a basket by de Jong at the buzzer put the Netherlands up 19-16.
Slagter was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct foul and Gintautas Matulis made two free throws, but the Netherlands had its victory.
Aurelijus Pukelis had seven points for Lithuania.
Lithuania 21, China 16
Dziaugys had nine points and Pukelis added eight to push Lithuania past China.
Lithuania led by six before China used a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 19-16 with 1½ minutes to play. But Sarunas Vingelis hit a 2-pointer to help close it out.
China went 0 for 9 on 2-point shots while Lithuania made three of its nine attempts.
Lithuania is 3-3 in pool play after a win and loss Friday, and China fell to 1-4.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
