VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — In the rematch, the U.S. had an easier time with South Sudan than it did when the teams first met a couple of weeks ago.
Easier. Not easy.
The U.S. clinched a trip to the quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics by beating South Sudan 103-86 on Wednesday night — a game that wasn’t ever really in doubt but was no romp either. Bam Adebayo scored 18 points and Kevin Durant had 14 for the Americans, who took control with a 25-4 run in the first half.
And led by Adebayo, the U.S. reserves scored 66 points.
“We’ve been calling ourselves the bench mob for a long time now,” Adebayo said. “And it doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup. We always seem to figure it out.”
Anthony Edwards scored 13 and LeBron James added 12 for the U.S. Nuni Omot led South Sudan with 21 points, while Carlik Jones scored 18 and Bul Kuol added 16.