2009 Maccabiah Games - US defeats Israel for gold

[Bluedog]

The men's US team defeated Israel 95-86 in OT to capture gold. Dan Grunfeld, the former Stanford player who now plays professionally in Spain, led the U.S. with 25 points. Grunfeld converted a three-point play with 20.7 seconds left to tie it. The US defeated Mexico 112–13 (!) in preliminary play; I didn't know such a score was even possible. Clearly, there are not that many Jews in Mexico. They went on defeat France 135–77 the next game. The US went on to lose to Russia to 73-71 on a buzzer beater and then defeated Argentina 97-89. They advanced to the medal round due to their better point differential than Argentina and Russia, who also finished with 3-1 records in pool play.

In the semifinals, the US defeated Canada 123-76 behind Dane DiLiegro's 20 points.

I can't find the box scores so I don't see how Scheyer did throughout the tournament. Anybody able to find that info? He's not even mentioned in any of the articles. Seems hard to believe as I expected him to be the best player on the roster. Did he pull out or something?

In women's action, Israel defeated the US 81-74 to win gold.

http://www.volunteertv.com/sports/headlines/50776472.html
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/07/23/1006732/us-men
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/jul/22/pearl-leads-us-gold-maccabiah-games/?partner=RSS
http://www.volunteertv.com/volsbasketball/headlines/51141017.html
http://www.volunteertv.com/sports/headlines/51223422.html
http://www.volunteertv.com/sports/headlines/50870052.html
http://www.volunteertv.com/sports/headlines/51329032.html

Edit: Scheyer must have pulled out because he was playing in the NC Pro-Am at the same time, right? Didn't see it previously mentioned that he withdrew...

[airowe]

Don't know if Scheyer was ever on the roster for that team, but he has been playing Summer League games in Durham at the NC Pro-AM at least the last two weeks.

http://www.ncproam.com

[Bluedog]

Don't know if Scheyer was ever on the roster for that team, but he has been playing Summer League games in Durham at the NC Pro-AM at least the last two weeks.

http://www.ncproam.com

Yep, I figured that out just after I posted. He was scheduled to be on the roster, though, as evidenced by the following DBR thread:

http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12047

I guess he decided participating in the Pro-Am and staying in Durham was better preparation for the upcoming season. I'm pretty sure he would have dominated everybody at the Maccabiah games.

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

According to the last paragraph of this article ...."Pearl has his work cut out for him with his squad here, especially after their top player, Jon Scheyer of Duke, pulled out of the tournament because of school commitments."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1101700.html

[ChicagoCrazy84]

So did you have to be Jewish to play in the Maccabi games or something? If not, what was the selection process like for this roster? I have heard of Dan Grunfeld, but Steven Pearl? I didn't even know Bruce Pearl had a son, let alone one that played for him at Tennessee.
Anway, good job USA!