Edwards comes up strong to prevent Montenegrin upset

MANILA (Philippines) – Montenegro showed the United States that the competition will only get stronger, taking a lead at the half, but Anthony Edwards led the charge after the break to for the United States to stay perfect and come a step closer to the Quarter-Finals. Montenegro earned the respect of the basketball world, as the country with a population of 600,000 battled hard for 40 minutes, staying strong and making their presence felt. Final score: 85-73.

Anthony Edwards had 10 points in the third quarter to put the USA back in front after a 38-37 Montenegrin lead at the break.With Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton opening up the offense, USA carried a 61-55 lead to the final 10 minutes, but Montenegro stuck around in a two-possession deficit all the way until the final five minutes.That’s when Edwards took over once again, scoring five straight points to keep Montenegro at bay, and once Austin Reaves knocked down his only three-pointer of the game, the gap was up to 75-68 with just 2:44 to play. Montenegro tried and tried again, but could not get over the line.

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Coach Steve Kerr can be happy with the win, but his men shot just 20-of-30 from the free throw line. Montenegro got another MVP-like performance from Nikola Vucevic, an 18-point, 15-rebound double-double despite getting all sorts of different defenders thrown at him, from Josh Hart through Jaren Jackson Jr and Bobby Portis Jr all the way to Walker Kessler. Coach Bosko Radovic now needs to prepare his squad for the duel with Greece.

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