U.S. Beats Brazil Team in Basketball : Match With Soviets in World University Games Is Likely

Stephen Thompson of Syracuse sparked a second half surge as a revamped U.S. basketball team pulled away to a 126-93 victory over Brazil in its opener at the World University Games today.

The U.S. team, trying to make up for its disappointing third-place finish at the Seoul Olympics last year, never trailed.

Brazil kept the game close in the first half, however, and the Americans led 53-51 at halftime.

Thompson, a 6-foot-2 guard, then led a 13-2 American run in the first three minutes of the second half that began the rout.

Thompson ended with 20 points, while Larry Johnson, who will play at Nevada-Las Vegas in the upcoming season, was the top scorer with 22.

Toughest Hurdle

By easily beating Brazil, the American team cleared what was likely its toughest hurdle in the preliminary round.

“They did a good job with the pick and roll in the first half,” said Head Coach Gene Keady of Purdue. “We scored a lot of points against them but we didn’t stop them well.

“In the second half, we put Stacey Augmon on (Maury) de Souza, their best player. We stopped him and got our fast break going.”

Augmon, of UNLV, is the only player to return from the Olympic team.

Thompson said the team was a little tight in the first half.

“We loosened up in the second, we put a lot of pressure on their big men and denied them the ball,” he said.

“We created turnovers, good transitions and made good decisions on the break.”

Soviets Won Gold

If all goes according to form, the United States will face the Soviet Union in the championship game. The Soviets upset the Americans in the Olympic semifinals at Seoul, and then beat Yugoslavia for the gold medal.

Yugoslavia, the defending University Games champion, showed itself a strong medal contender again with a 93-52 trouncing of Greece on Tuesday.