| FINAL STANDINGS 1. U.S.A. 2. Spain 3. Yugoslavia 4. CANADA 5. Italy 6. Uruguay 7. Australia 8. West Germany 9. Brazil 10. China 11. France 12. Egypt | CANADIANS Howard Kelsey (Vancouver, B.C.) Tony Simms (Kingston, Jamaica) Eli Pasquale (Sudbury, Ont.) Karl Tilleman (Ogden, Utah) Gerald Kazanowski (Nanaimo, B.C.) Jay Triano (Tillsonburg, Ont.) John Hatch (Calgary, Alta.) Gord Herbert (Penticton, B.C.) Bill Wennington (Montreal, Que.) Romel Raffin (Toronto, Ont.) Greg Wiltjer (Whitehorse, Yukon) Dan Meagher (Kingston, Ont.) Jack Donohue – coach Steve Konchalski – assistant |
| POOL B | YUG | ITA | AUS | GER | BRA | EGY | Record | ||
| Yugoslavia | —– | 69-65 | 94-64 | 96-83 | 98-85 | 100-69 | (5-0) | ||
| Italy | 65-69 | —– | 93-82 | 80-72 | 89-78 | 110-62 | (4-1) | ||
| Australia | 64-94 | 82-93 | —– | 67-66 | 76-72 | 94-78 | (3-2) | ||
| West Germany | 83-96 | 72-80 | 66-67 | —– | 78-75 | 85-58 | (2-3) | ||
| Brazil | 85-98 | 78-89 | 72-76 | 75-78 | —– | 91-82 | (1-4) | ||
| Egypt | 69-100 | 62-110 | 78-94 | 58-85 | 82-91 | —– | (0-5) | ||
| POOL A | USA | SPN | CAN | URU | CHN | FRA | Record | ||
| United States | —– | 101-68 | 89-68 | 104-68 | 97-49 | 120-62 | (5-0) | ||
| Spain | 68-101 | —– | 83-82 | 107-90 | 102-83 | 92-82 | (4-1) | ||
| Canada | 68-89 | 82-83 | —– | 95-80 | 121-80 | 96-69 | (3-2) | ||
| Uruguay | 68-104 | 90-107 | 80-95 | —– | 74-67 | 91-87 | (2-3) | ||
| China | 49-97 | 83-102 | 80-121 | 67-74 | —– | 85-83 | (1-4) | ||
| France | 62-120 | 82-97 | 69-96 | 87-91 | 83-85 | —– | (0-5) | ||
| QFs | Canada 78 Italy 72 | |
| QFs | Yugoslavia 110 Uruguay 82 | |
| QFs | Spain 101 Australia 93 | |
| QFs | United States 78 West Germany 67 | |
| 9-12th | Brazil 100 France 86 | |
| 9-12th | China 76 Egypt 73 | |
| 5-8th | Uruguay 101 Australia 95 | |
| 5-8th | Italy 98 West Germany 71 | |
| Semi | United States 78 Canada 59 | |
| Semi | Spain 74 Yugoslavia 61 | |
| 11th | France 102 Egypt 78 | |
| 9th | Brazil 86 China 76 | |
| 7th | Australia 83 West Germany 78 | |
| 5th | Italy 111 Uruguay 102 | |
| Bronze | Yugoslavia 88 Canada 82 | |
| Final | United States 96 Spain 65 | |
In their opener, Canada dropped an 83-82 decision to Spain. Tagged by the U.S. media as proponents of “Animal House Basketball’, the Canadians lived up to their image in a foul-filled affair which saw Spain whistled for 38 fouls and Canada with 29. The Canadians hit a dreary 28-45 from the line. “We didn’t shoot foul shots and we didn’t play well for most of the first half,” said coach Jack Donohue. “But we can’t let one game worry us at this stage of the tournament.” Canada trailed by 13 early but rallied to within 45-40 at the half. The closest they came in the second frame was 47-46 before the final frenzied seconds, in which Danny Meagher hit a field goal and a free throw to rally Canada within one with two seconds to play. Four Spaniards fouled out, as did three Canadians. “We had a definite lack of intensity,” said centre Greg Wiltjer, who scored 16. “We figured we were ready. We felt we were ready. But …” Fernando Martin paced Spain with 27. Juan Antonio San Epifanio added 20, Jose Maria Margall 12, Andres Jimenez 7, along with 10 boards, Juan Antonio Corbalan 4, Juan de la Cruz 4, Juan Manuel Lopez 4, Jose Luis Llorente 3 and Ignacio Solozabal 2, while Fernando Arcega, Jose Manuel Beiran and Fernando Romay were scoreless. Spain notched 34 boards, 22 assists, 8 steals, 3 blocks and 21 turnovers. Jay Triano paced Canada with 19 on 7-19 from the floor. Gerald Kazanowski added 16, along with 9 boards, Greg Wiltjer 16, along with 13 boards, Tony Simms 11, Bill Wennington 6, point guard Eli Pasquale 5 on 0-8 from the floor and 2 assists and 39 minutes of play, and Howard Kelsey 1, while Gord Herbert and Karl Tilleman were scoreless. Canada notched 40 boards, 11 assists, 9 steals, 3 blocks and 17 turnovers.
In their second game, the United States dominated Canada from the start, particularly on the boards. Michael Jordan scored 20 while coach Bobby Knight’s squad hounded the Canadians into numerous mistakes with their full-court pressure. “They denied us in the wings and we couldn’t set up our offence,” said forward Gerald Kazanowski, who led Canada with 11 points. The Americans jumped to a quick 18-6 lead as Jordan hit four jumpers. They moved ahead by 43-28 at the half as Jordan slammed a pair of dunks. The closest Canada came in the second half was 12. Donahue said he was disappointed with the play of wing guard Jay Triano, who hit just 4-15 from the floor. Greg Wiltjer scored 11 for Canada but had difficulty handling Patrick Ewing and Wayman Tisdale in the post. “They just jumped over us a few times and ran by us a few more,” said Donahue. “Believe it or not, I’m pleased with the effort we got out of our guys because we played 40 minutes of basketball today. We still feel that we can get into the quarter-finals. We need to get guys like Triano to the foul line. That would mean we’re running our offence and getting the proper shots. We run it properly and the ball should start dropping. We play again like we did today, we’ll beat a lot of these teams. … I didn’t really notice Jordan. I do know he’s not the only reason we lost. They came out running at us and we got behind. All I saw was a bunch of big guys who ran over us and shot over us. It’s the best U.S. national team I’ve ever seen. We didn’t make a few of our baskets early and we dropped a few rebounds. Our problem was that we weren’t relaxed. That’s why we called two timeouts. We just got the guys to relax. That’s the only adjustment we had to make.” Romel Raffin said that the Canadians fell behind too quickly. “We were cold at the start. And we didn’t get as much from Jay (Triano) and Tony (Simms) as we should have. The difference was that the U.S. got most of their second shots. They also played good defence and scored with the slam dunk American fans like.” Although Canada looked confused, point guard Eli Pasquale said they weren’t awed. “We’re not in awe of anyone. In the first eight minutes, we couldn’t stick in the hoop. We played even with them the rest of the time.” Steve Alford added 13 for the Americans, Vern Fleming 10, Chris Mullin 10, Sam Perkins 10, Alvin Robertson 9, Patrick Ewing 7, Wayman Tisdale 6, Jon Kocak 2 and Jeff Turner 2, while Joe Kleine and Leon Wood were scoreless. The US led 43-28 at the half. The Americans shot 38-71 from the floor and 13-18 from the line, while garnering 41 boards, 22 assists, 6 steals, 5 blocks and 9 turnovers. Gerald Kazanowski paced Canada with 11 on 5-7 from the floor and 6 boards. Greg Wiltjer added 11 on 4-8 from the floor, 8 boards and 3 assists. Karl Tilleman notched 10 on 5-7 from the floor. Tony Simms scored 8 on 2-10 from the floor and 2 boards. Eli Pasquale added 7 on 2-7 from the floor, 6 boards and 3 assists. Bill Wennington notched 7 on 3-4 from the floor and 4 boards. Howard Kelsey added 3 on 0-1 from the floor. Gord Herbert scored 2 on 1-1 from the floor. John Hatch added 1, while Danny Meagher and Romel Raffin were scoreless. Raffin nabbed 2 boards. Canada hit 26-64 from the floor and 16-30 from the line, while garnering 30 boards, 10 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 12 turnovers.
Canada picked up its first win by routing China 121-80, running up a 37-20 lead in the first ten minutes of play using their transition offence and the outside shooting of small forward Tony Simms of Toronto. The former Boston College star scored 15. Greg Wiltjer added 15, Jay Triano 14. “We’re starting to get in the grove and get a good feeling about our game,” said 6-5 Simms. “We’re more relaxed, talking to each other a lot more and starting to do some of the things we’re used to doing, like going to the basket consistently. Pushing the ball down the court is a plus for us. It gave us some room to shoot. Now we’ve got the confidence we were lacking against Spain and the U.S..” All 12 Canadians hit the scoresheet. Canada shot .566 from the floor and .818 from the line. “We found the groove today and got guys like Jay Triano playing well again,” said Donahue. “China’s the kind of team that, if we play them long enough, we’re going to wear them down. I was pleased that, we came out and got them early, showing a bit of that killer instinct. We’re back on schedule.” Gord Herbert scored 17, Bill Wennington 12, Danny Meagher 11, Gerald Kazanowski 10.
Canada picked up its first win by routing China 121-80, running up a 37-20 lead in the first ten minutes of play using their transition offence and the outside shooting of small forward Tony Simms of Toronto. The former Boston College star scored 15 (alternately reported as 16). Greg Wiltjer added 15, Jay Triano 14. “We’re starting to get in the grove and get a good feeling about our game,” said 6-5 Simms. “We’re more relaxed, talking to each other a lot more and starting to do some of the things we’re used to doing, like going to the basket consistently. Pushing the ball down the court is a plus for us. It gave us some room to shoot. Now we’ve got the confidence we were lacking against Spain and the U.S..” All 12 Canadians hit the scoresheet. “We found the groove today and got guys like Jay Triano playing well again,” said Donahue. “China’s the kind of team that, if we play them long enough, we’re going to wear them down. I was pleased that, we came out and got them early, showing a bit of that killer instinct. We’re back on schedule.” Gord Herbert scored 13, Bill Wennington 12 (also reported as 13), Danny Meagher 11, Gerald Kazanowski 10, Karl Tilleman 8, Howard Kelsey 7, Eli Pasquale 6, John Hatch 4 and Romel Raffin 4. Canada shot .566 from the floor and .818 from the line, while garnering 42 boards, 27 assists, 16 steals, 3 blocks and 14 turnovers. Lin Jinqing paced China with 16. Liu Jianli added 12, Wang Libin 11, Hu Zhangbao 10, Zhang Bin 10, Li Yaguang 8, Sun Fengwu 5, Wang Haibo 4, Huang Yunlong 2 and Kuang Lubin 2. China garnered 28 boards, 24 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks and 24 turnovers. The Canadians may have been relaxed by the colourful attire of coach Jack Donohue, who sported tight-red polyester pants and a pink silk-print shirt. Donohue also amused the troops by missing the chair as he attempted to sit down after vociferously protesting a call. He landed on the floor and asked the squad “how can you get out of this.” Canada led 59-32 at the half and romped. “This is just what the doctor ordered,” said assistant coach Steve Konchalski. “We got a chance to play our best and loosen up a bit. The guys have been a little tight and it has been hurting us in shooting percentages both from the floor and the foul line. This game should really set things up. It gives us something to build from.” Canada dominated the paint as China had little in the way of a defensive response to 7-0 centres Greg Wiltjer and Bill Wennington. Herbert, who rarely played, notched only eight minutes but shot the ball perfectly. “It’s tough coming in,” he said. “When I do, I try to touch the ball a few times to get into the flow of the game. Then I look for my shots. Because I only get three or four minutes most of the time, I try to get going quickly.”
Canada defeated Uruguay 95-80 but head coach Jack Donahue had few kind words for his players. “We’re having a team meeting in the norming to try and sort this thing out,” Donahue said after another sloppy effort. “I don’t have a clue right now what’s going on with this team. But I’d better have a better idea by 11 o’clock. We’re not playing very good basketball right now as a team. I don’t think we should be playing that way.” Canada committed 19 turnovers. Uruguay lost star and captain Carlos Peinado Stagnero in the opening half with a concussion suffered in a collision with Tony Simms. He was taken from the floor on a stretcher. Shortly thereafter, Eli Pasquale and Greg Wiltjer almost came to blows with two opponents. “I don’t think our players get out of hand at all,” said Donahue. “We’re not looking for trouble in a rough game like this and we try not to retaliate.” Canada trailed 47-46 at the half. The game was tied at 73 midway through the final half when reserves Karl Tilleman, Howard Kelsey and Gord Herbert came to the rescue. A driving layup by Kazanowski, a foul shot by Herbert, two free throws by Wiltjer and 20-foot jumper by Tilleman gave Canada an 80-73 lead. Kazanowski paced Canada with 24, while nabbing 9 boards. Greg Wiltjer added 13, along with 14 boards, Eli Pasquale 13, Karl Tilleman 12, Tony Simms 8, Bill Wennington 8, Danny Meagher 7, Howard Kelsey 5, Gord Herbert 4 and Jay Triano 1, while John Hatch was scoreless. Canada garnered 43 boards, 20 assists, 11 steals and 20 turnovers. Wilfredo Ruiz paced Uruguay with 29. Hebert Nunez added 24, Horacio Lopez 13, Luis Pierri 5, Alvaro Tito 4, Luis Larrosa 2, Juan Mignone 2 and Horacio Perdomo 1, while Carlos Peinado was scoreless. Uruguay notched 29 boards, 19 assists, 11 steals, 3 blocks and 18 turnovers.
Canada defeated France 96-69 as coach Jack Donahue again relied on his reserves. Canada led 40-31 at the half by generating a ton of transition layups off the dispirited French squad, which had lost four straight. Jay Triano paced Canada with 24. “We wanted to make sure Jay got a good workout,” Donahue said. “He has been off his game but I think he has found it now. We’re entering sudden death now, so we wanted to make sure all our people were in a good mood. The people we must count on played well and we got a great game from the bench.” The need for good bench play was evident in the first half when starting small forward Tony Simms was tossed for arguing with a ref. Replacement Gord Herbert scored 15 (alternately reported as 14) and played solid defence. Tony Simms added 13, Gerald Kazanowski 12, along with 9 boards, Greg Wiltjer 8, Danny Meagher 7, John Hatch 4, Eli Pasquale 4, along with 5 assists, Romel Raffin 4, Howard Kelsey 2, Karl Tilleman 2 and Bill Wennington 2. Canada garnered 43 boards, 19 assists, 6 steals, 2 blocks and 21 turnovers. “The starters haven’t been playing the way they have in the past,” said Herbert. “Jay and Tony have been in a bit of a slump but I’m sure they’ll come out of it. We’re all not really sharp yet. I don’t know what the problem is but this may be a blessing in disguise. Maybe the bad is all out of our system.” Eric Beugnot paced France with 20. Stephane Ostrowski added 16, Philippe Szanyiel 12, Jean-Luc Deganis 8, Bangaly Kaba 5, Herve Dubuisson 4, Patrick Cham 2 and Jean-Michel Senegal 2, while Gregor Beugnot, Richard Dacoury, Jacques Monclar and Georges Vestris were scoreless. France garnered 24 boards, 9 assists, 6 steals, 3 blocks and 14 turnovers.
Canada finished (3-2) in pool B play, qualifying for a quarterfinal crossover against Italy, which finished with (4-1) record in pool A.
In the quarterfinals, Canada rallied to defeat Italy 78-72. “We played under pressure today,” said Jay Triano. “We knew that, in a do-or-die situation, we would come through. We did it last year at the World University Games and we did it again this year.” Canada won it at the line, hitting 13 more free throws than the Italians, while getting the entire Italian front-line in foul trouble. All three forwards fouled out in the final minutes, leaving Canada to close out the match with its starting five against an inexperienced Italian front-line. Canada had trailed by 11 with three minutes to play in the first half but they cut the lead to six at the break on tenacious defence. “The main thing was that we took the ball to the hoop,” Triano said. “We weren’t going to back down at all. We know how big they are, so, when they got in foul trouble early, we really took it to them.” Assistant coach Steve Konchalski said Canada did an excellent job of handling the Italian’s aggressive play. “We felt that our offence must not lose its composure and we wanted to make sure their physical style of defence didn’t take us out of our game. What turned it around for us was that our defence tightened up in the last few minutes of the first half. In the second half, we played tenacious defence.” Coach Jack Donahue declared it the “best game I’ve ever coached because we’ve won it. At halftime, we only reminded the boys of how hard they’d worked to get here. What’s said in the locker room is overrated. The players did it. They sucked it up.” Point guard Eli Pasquale excelled, finally protecting the ball after several turnover-plagued games. Triano paced Canada with 25. Gerald Kazanowski added 20, Tony Simms 10, reserve Karl Tilleman 10 (all critical points in the second half), Eli Pasquale 7, along with 7 assists, Bill Wennington 4 and Greg Wiltjer 3, while Gord Herbert, Howard Kelsey and Danny Meagher were scoreless. Canada garnered 21 boards, 20 assists, 1 steal, 6 blocks and 20 turnovers. Renato Villalta paced Italy with 16. Marco Bonamico added 12, Romeo Sacchetti 12, Dino Meneghin 9, Antonello Riva 8, Enrico Gilardi 6, Roberto Brunamonti 4, Walter Magnifico 4 and Renzo Vecchiato 1, while Carlo Caglieris and Peirluigi Marzorati were scoreless. Italy garnered 25 boards, 20 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks and 18 turnovers.
Canada spun its wheels against the U.S. in the semis. “A lot of us have one game left to represent our country and win a medal, so we’ve got to forget about this game – it’s over,” said Jay Triano. The U.S. exploded with a 10-0 run late in the first half to move ahead 30-14. “I don’t even know who (Patrick) Ewing is,” Donahue said when asked if the 6-10 centre intimidated the Canadians. “I know, he’s the very, very big guy, right?” The U.S. led 43-26 at the half. Triano said the team did not execute its game plan. Pasquale said Canada didn’t lose for lack of effort. “We knew we had to play hard and play well. We just missed out on the latter.” The Canadians tried to slow the game to a crawl but were unable to dictate the tempo in the first half. “The problem we ran into was that we didn’t hit our shots early on and we didn’t box them out as we should have,” said coach Jack Donahue. “That caused us a lot of trouble. As I have said before, our guys think they can beat this U.S. team. But to do that, we have to play them hard for 40 minutes. The U.S. is a great basketball team.” Jordan set the tone early, stealing the ball for layup and driving the baseline for several emphatic dunks. The Americans completely dominated the boards. “If you want to look at our stats, I suppose (Ewing’s) are better than mine,” said Canadian centre Bill Wennington. “I had difficulty today because I tried to shoot the ball over him a few times. That’s the wrong thing to do with Pat. You’ve got to take the ball to him. I was not thinking. Pat and Jordan are very talented players. You have to give them credit. They both know what do with and without the ball. I think they are what everyone says they are.” Chris Mullin paced the U.S. with 20. Michael Jordan added 13, Patrick Ewing 10, Wayman Tisdale 9, Sam Perkins 8, Leon Wood 8, Steve Alford 6, Joe Kleine 2 and Alvin Robertson 2, while Jon Koncak and Jeff Turner were scoreless. The U.S. shot 33-73 from the floor and 12-14 from the line, while garnering 41 boards, 18 assists, 7 steals, 14 blocks and 9 turnovers. Jay Triano led Canada with 16 on 7-15 from the floor and 2 boards. Danny Meagher added 11 on 4-6 from the floor, 3 boards and 2 assists. Eli Pasquale scored 8 on 4-8 from the floor, 5 boards and 3 assists. Romel Raffin added 4 on 2-2 from the floor. Tony Simmons notched 4 on 2-11 from the floor and 5 boards. Karl Tilleman added 4 on 2-6 from the floor. Greg Wiltjer scored 4 on 2-4 from the floor and 10 boards. Howard Kelsey added 3 on 1-4 from the floor and 3 assists. Gord Herbert scored 2 on 1-2 from the floor, while John Hatch and Gerald Kazanowski were scoreless. Kazanowski nabbed 3 boards. Canada hit 25-66 from the floor and 9-16 from the line, while garnering 35 boards, 13 assits, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 16 turnovers.
In the bronze medal match, Yugoslavia clipped Canada 88-82 as Drazen Dalipagic scored 37, including Yugoslavia’s first five buckets, 18 of its first 24 points and 27 of its 44 points at the half. “He killed us,” said coach Jack Donahue. Canada trailed 44-38 at the half but roared back to a 57-55 lead with 7.5 minutes to play. In the ensuing melee, the Yugoslavians outmuscled the Canadians. They led 81-80 with a minute to go and drained a perimeter jumper to take command. “Dalipagic is one of the best in the world,” said Jay Triano. “And you could see why tonight. We were all over him and we couldn’t stop him. We boxed-and-oned him and put three or four different guys on him and he just shot over everybody. He runs off four or five picks all the way down the floor, so with a box-and-one, you can’t really stay with him. At one stage, I touched the ball in his hands three times and he still made the shot. It kind of frustrates you a bit. … I don’t think I’ve ever played such an intense game for such a long period of time. We knew from the start that it would be tough. Our plan was to take the ball to the basket and we did get a couple of three-point plays. But we couldn’t put the ball in enough when they matched up and played us with a zone.” Aleksandar Petrovic added 15 for Yugoslavia, Drazen Petrovic 12, Ratko Radovanovic 8, Andro Knego 4, Ivan Sunara 4, Nebojsa Zorkic 4, Emir Mutapcic 2 and Mihovil Nakic-Vojnovic 2, while Rajko Zizic was scoreless as he nabbed 7 of Yugoslavia’s 36 boards. Yugoslavia also notched 20 assists, 8 steals, 4 blocks and 10 turnovers. Eli Pasquale paced Canada with 16, while nabbing 6 boards, dishing 5 assists, pilfering 2 balls and blocking 3 shots. Karl Tilleman added 13, Greg Wiltjer 12, along with 8 boards, Bill Wennington 11, Tony Simms 10, Jay Triano 10, along with 7 boards, 4 assists and 2 blocks, Gerald Kazanowski 8 and Howard Kelsey 2, while John Hatch and Danny Meagher were scoreless. Meagher dished 4 assists. Canada garnered 37 boards, 18 assists, 7 steals, 6 blocks and 11 turnovers.