The U.S. Maccabiah basketball team is one win away from reclaiming the gold medal. Coach Bruce Pearl's boys defeated Canada in the semi-finals today, 123-76, after jumping out to a 64-40 halftime lead. New Hampshire's Dane Diliegro led the Americans with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Bucknell's Bryan Cohen (brother of former Penn hoopster Aron) added 17 points and three rebounds. Zack Rosen contributed two points, six assists and four rebounds and committed zero turnovers in 20 minutes.
Now the U.S. must play its fourth game in as many days as it gets set to play Israel in the gold medal game tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. EDT). The game will be broadcast on DIRECTV channel 366 (Jewish Life TV) or streamed online at www.jltv.tv.
[Updated July 22, 2:07 p.m.] Team USA won the gold medal today with a 95-86 victory over Israel. The game was a hard-fought, back-and-forth matchup that went to overtime. The U.S. led most of the way, with a three-point halftime lead that ballooned to as many as 13 before going into the fourth quarter at 62-57. With the game on the line, Israel stepped up and took a six-point lead with five minutes remaining. Rosen cut the deficit to two on an acrobatic shot, but committed a turnover on a similar attempt on the next possession. Grunfeld finally tied it for the US on a three-point play with 20.7 seconds left and the game went to overtime. In OT the U.S. took control as Rosen scored three of his six points and added two assists in the extra period, while Grunfeld nailed his free throws down the stretch to ensure the victory. He led the way with 25 points and 12 rebounds for the U.S. and was named tournament MVP.
Tags: aron cohen, basketball, Zack Rosen
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July 21st, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Aren't we a little heavy on this Maccabiah coverage? There is only 1 Penn player on the roster. Its a fringe event to the American basketball community , with little mainstream appeal outside of the "Jewish Basketball Circles". I suspect (perhaps incorrectly?) that those who care about this event are already following via other circles such as blogs, papers, periodicals, journals, websites, and other media which is devoted to the Maccabiah Games.
If this is about promoting Penn's Zach Rosen - then equal time should be allocated to the other Penn players and how they are spending their summers. Otherwise, we are spending way too much time on this
Instead I suggest covering PENN ATHLETICS.
FOJL
July 21st, 2009 at 6:10 pm
FOJL -
My $.02: When the reporter is committed to writing something positive re Penn sports, it's slim pickings out there. I agree there's a bit of a "so what?" to all this coverage, but this particular reporter is at least trying to be a reporter. It's a sight better than web surfing other sports sites and speculating whether Cornell might join the Big 10, or Penn the SEC.
EN
July 21st, 2009 at 7:42 pm
I enjoy seeing the positive chatter about Cornell.
I sure hope Bilsky enjoys it too.
He should be ashamed to show his smug face at the annual wine
and cheese party with the other Ivy ADs. I bet the Cornell AD
makes fun of him behind his back.
FOJL
July 21st, 2009 at 8:05 pm
FOJL (& DP Reporters) -
The very high probability is the Cornell and other Ivy ADs are outwardly pleased with him and Penn's status quo. From their perspective, why not? Why have a competitive Penn competing for top recruits and titles? Truly maddening!
EN