Michigan State University Athletics
Jason Richardson Leads Men's Select Team Against Olympic Team
9/2/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sept. 2, 2000
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State sophomore Jason Richardson scored a team-best 20 points as he led the USA Select Team against the United States Olympic Team in an exhibition contest in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Toronto Raptors' Vince Carter scored 24 points to lead all scorers as Team USA defeated the select group of college all-stars, 111-74.
Richardson started the game on a strong note, scoring eight of the Select Team's first 11 points. He finished the first half with 19 points including four three-point field goals, two spectacular dunks and one over-the-head flip shot despite being fouled hard by Jason Kidd. Richardson also led the Select Team with five rebounds and tied for the team lead with four assists.
Never really in danger of being outscored, Vince Carter kept the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team from being outperformed.
Carter unleashed a series of highlight-reel dunks in the second half to answer an array of spectacular plays by a team of collegians as the Olympians won their second exhibition game 111-74 Saturday over the U.S. Select Team.
Carter didn't miss a shot as he led the U.S. team in scoring for the second straight game, tallying 24 points after going for 29 in a victory over Canada two days earlier. A dozen of Carter's points came in the first eight minutes of the second half, and his trio of spectacular dunks sparked the Olympic team to a 29-9 run that locked up the victory.
Until Carter broke loose with his above-the-rim antics, a vast majority of the flashiest plays were coming from the Select Team. Whether it was Jason Williams of Duke taking on Gary Payton and throwing no-look passes like he was Jason Kidd, or Richardson lighting it up from 3-point range, the collegians were holding their own in the flash department while also staying within striking distance.
That all changed in the first several minutes of the second half thanks to Carter, who shot 10-for-10 including two windmill dunks and a 3-pointer in the final two minutes.
Williams had another highlight reel play on a breakaway slam early in the second half to make it 52-43, but Carter then had back-to-back dunks, including a tomahawk jam off a missed shot, and Kidd sneaked up to steal an inbounds pass for an uncontested layup that made it 60-43.
A tricky reverse layup and a turnaround jumper by Carter preceded perhaps his best dunk of the game, an alley-oop slam off a pass from Kidd for a 68-47 lead. It was a blowout the rest of the way for the Olympic team, which got 17 points from Ray Allen, 11 apiece from Antonio McDyess and Shareef Abdur-Rahim and 10 from Vin Baker.
After Carter thrilled the crowd by repeatedly dunking during pre-game layups, the Americans hit their first three shots of the game -- two by Tim Hardaway.
Alonzo Mourning had the first miss on a short jumper, but Carter stole the ensuing outlet pass and quickly buried a 3-pointer for a 12-3 lead.
The Select Team stuck around as Williams and Joseph Forte of North Carolina each made nifty passes on the fast break. Richardson came up with two spectacular plays, leaping high above the rim to slam home a missed shot and then converting a three-point play despite being fouled hard by Jason Kidd on a breakaway.
Richardson's latter play made it 21-19, and the Olympic team went on a 9-0 run before Williams provided another highlight for the collegians, feeding a pretty lookaway pass to Shane Battier of Duke for a fast-break layup.
A 3-pointer by Casey Jacobsen of Stanford made it a four-point game before Williams provided the next eye-opening move, using his quickness to drive around Payton -- one of the best defenders in the NBA -- for a layup. Payton went right back at Williams on the ensuing possession, but his layup attempt bounced hard off the backboard.
