WUG 2009 -- USA Loses to Russia 69-68; Plays for Bronze

Running on Empty
After leading for the entire game and entering the last quarter with a 10 point lead the USA squad was outscored 20-9 by the surging Russians and dropped their semi-final game by a point.

On...	Eff	eFG	PPWS	OReb	DReb	TReb	TOR%	AST%	BLK%	STL%
Offense	91.6	38.1	0.88	36.4	63.0	99.4	18.8	36.4	7.6	2.7
Defense	92.9	34.8	0.88	37.0	63.6	100.6	16.2	33.3	9.1	10.8
Pace	74.3

The tight score is reflected in the stats -- nearly even shooting (in?)efficiency, rebounding and turnovers. Team USA did a bit better with steals, but no doubt gave that advantage back in fouls (29 to the Russian's 23) and free throw conversion (64.5% vs 82%). Individual player efficiency stats:

Player	%PT	eFG%	PPWS	Shot%	Ast%	OReb	DReb
Anderson, James	20.0	0.0	1.05	7.9	0.0	0.0	0.0
Battle, Talor	50.0	9.1	0.34	34.9	0.0	6.6	4.3
Booker, Trevor	43.8	50.0	0.77	21.8	20.8	7.5	14.9
Brackins, Craig	40.0	0.0	0.0	15.9	0.0	0.0	38.0
Butler, Da'Sean	47.5	0.0	0.44	16.7	9.6	3.5	13.7
Fisher, Corey	62.5	65.0	1.34	25.4	7.3	5.2	10.4
Hayward, Lazar	56.3	57.1	1.14	19.8	16.2	5.8	0.0
Hummel, Robbie	55.0	65.0	1.28	28.9	8.3	6.0	19.8
Pondexter, Quincy	42.5	0.0	0.92	3.7	0.0	0.0	5.1
Thompson, Deon	52.5	42.9	1.18	21.2	0.0	15.6	24.8
Turner, Evan	30.0	0.0	0.53	5.3	15.2	0.0	0.0
Varnado, Jarvis	DNP

Odd that Jarvis Varnado did not play. No information on why (injury or coach's decision). USA will play Isreal for the bronze medal today, while the Russians and the Serbs will meet to decide who takes the gold and who settles for the silver.

Additional Links
The AP wire story posted at USA Basketball.
The box score in .pdf format.
Some additional post game quotes. "...I think we executed in the first half. In the second half, we started playing their game...and they got us out of our rhythym towards the end."
Corey Fisher, Villanova