FRISCO, Texas — The United States U21 team, with LSU sophomore Glen Davis on the team, had to rally from a 13-point end of the first quarter deficit here Friday night at the Dr. Pepper Center to defeat Lithuania, 91-86, in the final preliminary of the 2005 Global Games.
The Americans advance to Saturday night’s gold medal game against an opponent to be announced at press conference, but it appears that it could be Lithuania again as that was the first loss the team has sustained in the tournament.
The U.S. team, preparing to go to Argentina next week for the World U21 championships, found itself down 26-13 at the end of the first 10-minute quarter. The Americans rallied to take the lead, 43-42, at the half, but fell behind by as much as five before Justin Gray got hot, hitting three treys in the final quarter on a night when he would lead the U.S. with 24 points, including 6-of-9 from three-point range.
Davis had just one point on the night on one-of-two free throw shooting and the SEC Freshman of the Year was held without a shot.
One area where the U.S. dominated the other teams it had played was on the boards, but the Lithuania team out rebounded the Americans, 40-23.