PARIS — Canyon Barry carried the short-handed U.S. men’s team to two victories Friday in 3×3 pool play at the Paris Olympics.
Barry scored 14 points in a 21-17 win over China in the nightcap after dropping 15 in a 21-19 victory over France earlier Friday.
“Winning in the Olympics is fun,” a beaming Barry said. “I’ll tell you that there’s not much of a better feeling than that.”
The U.S., which played without star Jimmer Fredette for a third straight game because of a lower extremity injury, had dropped its first four games of the tournament.
“It’s exhausting, it’s brutal,” Barry said of playing a man down. “But we’re Olympians, we’ve trained for it. Obviously, not ideal circumstances, but… you have to be able to push through and persevere. And that’s what makes being an Olympian special.”
The U.S. led China by 6 after a 2-pointer by Dylan Travis with about two minutes to go. Ning Zhang then scored three points for China to cut the lead to 18-15.
Travis made a basket before Jiaren Zhao hit two free throws to make it 19-17 with less than a minute to go. Barry pulled up at the top of the key and nailed a 2-pointer to end it with 36 seconds left.
Travis raved about Barry’s work Friday.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “I don’t know, it’s like he was playing with a higher power or something.”
China fell to 1-5 with the loss.
In the early game, France took the lead on a basket by Franck Seguela with 90 seconds to go. Barry, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry, then took over.
He scored a basket before making two of the underhanded free throws his father made famous to leave the U.S. one point from the win.
Timothe Vergiat got France within one on a basket with less than a minute to go before Barry drove and made an off-balance layup to close it out with 50 seconds remaining. Barry sat on the court and screamed as his teammates jumped around him celebrating.
U.S. player Kareem Maddox said the message before the Friday’s games was simple.
“Just fight,” he said. “I feel a lot of responsibility to fight and just keep fighting. That’s all you can do and Jimmer is right there with us, helping us every step of the way.”
Seguela had seven points and seven rebounds for France, which dropped to 2-4 in pool play.
Dejan Majstorovic scored seven points as Serbia, the Tokyo bronze medal winner, routed Poland to improve to 4-2 in pool play.
Serbia led by 7 after two points by Majstorovic with about 6 1/2 minutes left. They were up by 16-8 a couple of minutes later before Majstorovic hit a 2-pointer and a basket to extend it to 19-8.
Michał Sokołowski had a dunk to start a 4-1 spurt for Poland, but Majstorovic hit a basket with 2 1/2 minutes left to end it.
Adrian Bogucki had six points for Poland, which is 2-4.
A 3-0 run got Serbia within three with about four minutes to go. Latvia went on a 5-1 run, highlighted by a 2-pointer from Lasmanis, to end it with 2:13 remaining.
Latvia made seven 2-point shots to just two by Serbia.
Majstorovic had seven points for Serbia.
Nauris Miezis had 10 points and his 2-pointer with 41 seconds left helped Latvia top France in the first game of the day for both teams Friday.
Seguela’s basket for France with just more than a minute left tied it at 20. Miezis then hit his fourth 2-pointer of the game to give Latvia the win.
Seguela had 10 points for France.
Seguela and Timothe Vergiat made consecutive 2-pointers to put France up 17-15 with 2½ minutes to go. But Miezis made a 2-pointer to start a 4-0 run that put Latvia up 19-17.
Lucas Dussoulier hit a 2-pointer to tie it before Lasmanis’ basket put Latvia up by one with about 90 seconds left.
Worthy de Jong, Arvin Slagter and Dimeo van der Horst each scored six points to help the Netherlands to the win.
The game was tied before the Netherlands used a 5-1 run, with the first three points coming from Slagter, to take a 19-15 lead with about two minutes to go.
Poland scored the next two points, but van der Horst made a basket before Slagter’s free throw ended it with 1:22 remaining.
Przemysław Zamojski had eight points for Poland.
The game was tied with 33 seconds left after a 2-point shot by Evaldas Dziaugys. Slagter then made a 2-pointer before a basket by de Jong at the buzzer put the Netherlands up 19-16.
Slagter was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct foul and Gintautas Matulis made two free throws, but the Netherlands had its victory.
Aurelijus Pukelis had seven points for Lithuania.
Dziaugys had nine points and Pukelis added eight to push Lithuania past China.
Lithuania led by six before China used a 3-0 run to cut the lead to 19-16 with 1½ minutes to play. But Sarunas Vingelis hit a 2-pointer to help close it out.
China went 0 for 9 on 2-point shots while Lithuania made three of its nine attempts.
Lithuania is 3-3 in pool play after a win and loss Friday, and China fell to 1-4.
