USA on FIBA

Bronze medal winners at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, the US is desperate to win gold this time to go into the Beijing Olympics on a high.

Coach K spoke after the big triumph over the South Americans.

Coach Krzyzewski: "I am extremely happy with our first performance. We wanted to play hard and we played hard. Our talent was evident and it was excellent to watch how my players united to defend with intensity. I am satisfied with our debut performance in this tournament. I think our defense marked our play, but this time it was down to Kobe to go forward and assist his other team-mates.

"I reiterate, though, that it was our defense that was our best weapon. We left our opponents with 69 points, something which will not be likely to be seen later on in this tournament. We are fast and we were were aggressive on offense.

"Our players are communicating very well defensively. I think the key is that they are trying to play every possession very hard. In any case, this is
our first game and the first game in which these players have played together. We have eight new players on our roster and if I am not mistaken, it is the first international game for seven of them.

Philippines Drag World Cup

Despite Bautista's loss, the Philippines brought home the World Cup diadem as veteran Gerry Penalosa, AJ Banal and Z Gorres stopped their respective opponents to delight of the cheering Filipino crowd.

The Philippines zoomed to 5-0 lead when Penalosa upset highly-favorite Jhonny Gonzales (34-6, 29 KOs) to win the WBO bantamweight crown with a crippling body shot to the liver in the seventh round.

The 35-year-old Penalosa (52-6-2, 35 KOs) was behind on all three scorecards when he landed a lottery shot to the body that sent Gonzales down in serious pain.

The former champion, only 25 years old, stayed down for the full count and Penalosa flexed his muscles and kneeled down at the center of the ring to celebrate his big upset win.

Penalosa was overwhelmed with emotion as he received the championship belt, his first world title since losing the WBC flyweight title to Korean In Joo Cho in 1998 in Seoul.

Diosdado Gabi (30-3-1, 21 KOs) gave the Philippines an early lead via an eight-round unanimous decision against Jose Angel Beranza (30-10-2, 25 KOs) in a battle of junior bantamweight bout.

The second win of the Philippines came from Michael Domingo (32-14-2, 12 KOs) who scored an upset six-round decision over previously unbeaten junior featherweight Miguel "Mickey Mouse" Roman (21-1, 15 KOs).

Undefeated AJ "Bazooka" Banal (14-0-1, 11 KOs) stopped Jorge Cardenas (9-4-3, 6 KOs) in the third round to give the Philippines a 3-0 lead. Cardenas badly twisted his right ankle while going down from a Banal's punch.

Gorres (27-2-1, 15 KOs) made a successful comeback from a controversial split decision loss to Fernando Montiel by halting former WBC junior flyweight champion Eric Ortiz (26-7-1, 17 KOs) in the eight-round.

Ortiz suffered a deep cut above his left eye from a punch and the ring doctor advised the referee to stop the fight, giving Gorres the TKO win. (PNA)