LeBron James saved the U.S. from a stunning loss.
His layup with eight seconds left was the go-ahead basket, and the U.S. Olympic team escaped with a 101-100 win over South Sudan on Saturday in London, rallying from a 16-point deficit to avoid what would have been a massive upset.
South Sudan, which gained its independence just 13 years ago, had a chance to win it. Carlik Jones had a decent look off the glass with about four seconds left, but it missed.
James finished with 23 points, six rebounds and six assists for the U.S., which improved to 4-0 on its pre-Olympic exhibition tour with one game remaining. Anthony Davis added 15 points for the Americans.
Marial Shayok led all scorers with 25 points for South Sudan and Jones had a triple-double — 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.
The teams will meet in group play in the Paris Olympics on July 31.
JT Thor’s three-pointer with 20 seconds left gave South Sudan a 100-99 lead, then the Americans called timeout and put the ball in James’ hands. He waited, waited, waited, then drove and laid it in with ease to put the U.S. back on top, and the Americans got the stop they needed at the end.
An 18-0 run in the second half — James involved in most of it — was what really saved the U.S. from what could have easily been considered the most surprising loss in the national team’s history. It turned a 76-65 deficit into an 83-76 lead.
South Sudan, 43.5-point underdogs coming into the game, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, led by 16 late in the first half — 58-42, before the Americans got the last basket to cut the deficit to 14 at the break.
It should have been a mismatch, and for the first half, it was — just not in the way anyone would have expected.
The U.S. roster has 12 players, all of them All-Stars or NBA champions, some both, with a total of 189,038 points in their regular-season careers, with 7,832 combined starts. South Sudan has four players who have appeared in an NBA game. They’ve scored a combined 1,228 points and started 19 games.
Didn’t matter. It was 8-0 U.S. after 2 1/2 minutes. The rest of the half: South Sudan 58, U.S. 34. The Americans allowed South Sudan to shoot 61% in the first half, got outscored 21-3 from three-point range and turnovers — the clear weak link of this team so far — were a problem yet again.
But the 18-0 run helped save the day. James had four assists during the spurt and Stephen Curry, from about 35 feet, connected on a three-pointer late in the third that gave the U.S. its first lead since the first quarter at 79-76.
Wenyen Gabriel banked in a three-pointer to get South Sudan within 85-84, but James — his former teammate with the Los Angeles Lakers — sank a three-pointer on the ensuing U.S. possession, and the Americans would eventually hang on.
Barely.