Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 26, 1990 TAG: 9007260551
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SEATTLE LENGTH: Medium
Scrambling to stay alive in the tournament, the U.S. basketball team rebounded from a 92-85 loss to the Soviets the night before with a 113-76 rout of Italy that sent America into the medals round.
"We do have tomorrow," U.S. basketball player Billy Owens said after the Soviet loss.
And what an impressive tomorrow it was.
Lewis, meanwhile, won his 64th straight long jump with a less impressive effort of 27 feet, 6 inches, more than a foot off his best. But there were none better Wednesday night.
"You always want to jump farther," Lewis said.
The United States took a 21-point lead at halftime, holding the Italians to 27 percent from the floor, and coasted the rest of the way.
Georgia Tech's Kenny Anderson led the American team with 19 points. Todd Day of Arkansas, starting for the first time, had 15 points and held Italy's top scorer, Antonello Riva, to 21 points, 10.5 below his Goodwill Games average.
The largest U.S. lead was 113-72 on two free throws by Bryant Stith of Virginia with 30 seconds to play.
Two years ago in Seoul, the Soviets beat the United States for the first time in 16 years in major international competition. That loss kept the Americans from winning the gold, something they couldn't have done here if they had not beaten Italy.
"I thought we reacted in a very positive manner after the Soviet game," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We realized we're in a tournament and that game wasn't for the Olympic championships."
In Friday night's semifinals, the United States meets Brazil, which got through the qualifying round undefeated. Oscar Schmidt, one of the most explosive scorers in international basketball, had 42 points in a 101-94 victory over Australia.
"Brazil is as good and experienced team as there is in international basketball," Krzyzewski said.
The Soviets, who play Yugoslavia in the semifinals, lost to Puerto Rico 99-84. Ramon Rivas scored 34 points and had 18 rebounds to pace Puerto Rico.
In track and field, Lewis came into the meet with the longest winning streak in the history of the long jump, and he has the two longest non-altitude jumps ever, both 28 feet, 10\ inches.
Mike Powell, another American, thought he could beat him. He also has jumped over 28 feet and over 29 on faults. But it wasn't his day. It was Lewis' day, as they all have been since he last lost a long jump in 1981.
Powell was second at 27-4 1/2, and Robert Emmiyan of the Soviet Union, who jumped last in the event, could do no better than 27-0.
"I felt I could have had a little better effort," Lewis said. "But it was a little cold, and the main thing was to win. I'll get some better jumps off later this summer."
Randy Barnes won the shot put with a throw that was more than 5 feet short of his world record. He had only two legal throws after four fouls, and his first toss of 70 feet 4\ inches was the winner. His record is 75-10\ .
Jim Doehring, who beat Barnes at this year's national championships, was second at 69-3 1/2.
Last May in Los Angeles, Barnes broke the old record of 75-8 by East German Ulf Timmermann, who passed up this meet reportedly over concern about his country's changing politics.
"I'm not surprised at my decline in throwing after the world record," Barnes said. "It's part of the trade. I'm not upset; I'm tickled to death to win."
Dave Johnson overtook Dan O'Brien in the final event, the 1,500 meters, to win the decathlon, just as he did at the national championships. O'Brien came into the day with a 218-point lead but, with one event left, it had dwindled to 23 points.
At the end, Johnson had 8,403 points to 8,358 for O'Brien.
by CNB