PAN AM GAMES ROUNDUP : It’s No Dream, U.S. Basketball Team Loses

Dream Team? Dream on.

The United States, fielding a makeshift basketball team without any recognized stars, was beaten, 68-67, by Argentina on Sunday.

A layup at the buzzer by Diego Osella lifted the home team to victory and sent the sellout crowd into a frenzy only 16 hours after a wild celebration in the same building where Argentina defeated the Americans in volleyball.

“I always talk about dreaming of winning against a big team, and we beat the biggest team around the world,” Argentina Coach Guillermo Vecchio said after his team overcame a 20-point first-half deficit. “This is very important for our basketball, to beat the first team in the world.”

Argentina was led by Juan Espil, who made four three-point shots and scored 27 points.

Elsewhere, the U.S. rowing team collected seven golds, one silver and one bronze in 10 events, bringing its total to 10 golds, seven silvers and one bronze in two days.

In archery, the United States won the men’s and women’s team gold medals, pushing the final U.S. medals count to 19, with nine of 12 possible golds.

Rob Harbison of Phenix City, Ala., set a world record in the 300-meter standard rifle event, hitting 588 of 600 targets. Connie Petracek of Nashville, Tenn., won the women’s sport pistol event and was on the winning sport pistol team.

Jeanne Golay of Glenwood Springs, Colo., won the women’s cycling individual road race.

Cubans also had a big day in track and field, finishing 1-2 in three events to win four gold medals and three silvers and set two Pan American records.

Sarah Thorsett of Madison, Wis., gave the Americans their lone track and field gold medal Sunday, winning the 1,500 meters.

American Wendell Gaskin, who races at top level despite being deaf, finished sixth in the 400 meters final, the result, he said, of a mistake in Saturday’s semifinals.

Gaskin normally watches the reaction of other runners to know when the starting gun has fired, but because he had eased up and failed to win his semifinal race, he was drawn into lane eight for the final and had no other runners in front of him in the staggered start. He had to await a signal from his coach before starting and finished with a time of 45.86 seconds.

Norberto Tellez of Cuba won the race in 45.30 seconds.