OSU's Smart Helps Team USA Pound Australia

Oklahoma State sophomore Marcus Smart scored 11 points and dished out four assists, leading the USA U19 men's basketball team to a 91-54 win over Australia here Tuesday night in the second game of the second round at the FIBA U19 World Championships.

The game was tied 9-9 six minutes into the game before the Americans went on an 8-0 run. A 24-12 lead after the first period was all the United States needed, outscoring the Australians 31-8 in the second quarter. Smart scored nine of his 11 points during that period as the Americans took a 55-20 lead into intermission.

In his fifth start of the tournament and his 10th-consecutive start in international competition over the past two summers, Smart added four assists and two steals. He has 16 steals for the tournament. With four games remaining, he is tied for the seventh-most steals by a player competing for the United States at the U19/Junior World Championships. Patrick Beverly holds the record with 31 steals in nine games during the 2007 U19 World Championships.

The victory over Australia, coupled with Serbia's 76-50 win over China earlier today, sets up for a clash of undefeated teams in the final game of Group F pool play. The contest between the United States (5-0) and Serbia (5-0) is scheduled for Wednesday at 8:15 pm local time (1:15 pm CT) at the Podvinny Mlyn Arena. Spain is the only other undefeated team at 5-0 after Lithuania (4-1) was defeated 91-90 by Croatia (4-1) in Group E pool play.