LILLE (France) - A memorable day at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium, as South Sudan became the newest nation to win an Olympic basketball game. They held it together for 40 minutes, did not panic when Puerto Rico went on their runs, and that composure led them over the finish line to start a party with the packed stands as time expired.
Nearly 27,000 fans were in the stadium to witness this piece of history. South Sudan won the game 90-79.
Turning point
A game of runs saw Puerto Rico claim a nine-point lead in the first half, only to witness an 11-0 run by South Sudan, as they opened up an eight-point lead of their own in the third quarter.
Powered by George Conditt IV inside the arc, especially after his monster dunk, Puerto Rico came back once more, setting up the stage for a clutch finish to the game over the last five minutes.
South Sudan could've gone with Carlik Jones or Nuni Omot then. But coach Royal Ivey opted for a whole new weapon, handing the ball over to the 21-year-old JT Thor.
The lefty forward had four straight points, pushing the gap to 83-73, and allowing Carlik Jones to hit the dagger three-pointer to make it +13 with 3:03 to play.
They learned their lesson from their last encounter with Puerto Rico, an overtime loss at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, so they held it together and prevented a late comeback.
Game hero
The guards dominated this game on both sides, and while the Puerto Rico tandem of Tremont Waters and Jose Alvarado did a lot of damage in the first half, the closer was once again Carlik Jones.
South Sudan's point guard had 19 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, with just 2 turnovers in 37 minutes of work.
Of course, it required a whole team effort from the newest African powerhouse, as four other players reached double digits, including the history maker Nuni Omot, author of their first ever Olympic points.
Stats don't lie
Size matters. South Sudan won the rebounding battle 55-37, picking up 18 offensive rebounds, with an incredible 24-2 advantage in second chance points.
Bottom line
Both teams have now got a mountain to climb the rest of the way, facing the United States and Serbia in their remaining two Group C games. It's especially tough for Puerto Rico because they know they need to defeat one or even both those teams to have a shot of making it to the Quarter-Finals.
It wasn't to be in this game, but Jose Alvarado played his heart out with 26 points, despite rolling his ankle late in the first half.
They said
"We just stuck to our game plan. Get up threes, play fast, play physical, defend, and we kept them off of the offensive rebounding, that's how they beat us last year. We had this one marked down for a year. They got us at the World Cup and we had to return the favor. We had a ten-point lead and they beat us in overtime, so this was definitely a revenge game. I don't wanna stir it up, but that's the truth. This is so surreal, I couldn't experience anything better than this." - South Sudan head coach Royal Ivey
"We had this one marked down for a year. They got us at the World Cup and we had to return the favor." - Royal Ivey
"There's nothing like making history. That's all we've been doing, making history, more history. It's a blessing, I'm just very happy and excited to be a part of it. I didn't even know (I was the first player to score for South Sudan at the Olympics), but it's a blessing. I'm very, very happy to be the first person to score for us, it's an honor." - Nuni Omot, South Sudan
"I didn't take it as pressure. We prepared well, our confidence in our team is quite high, and as long as we are prepared and ready, we can live with the results, and we were looking forward to this game, for sure." - Marial Shayok, South Sudan
Quick notes
This was only the second win for an African team against a team from the Americas in Olympic history, following Egypt's 66-55 triumph against Cuba in 1952. Since then, the Americas teams defeated the African teams 33 times in a row
South Sudan became the fourth team to collect 55 rebounds or more in a single game since the start of the 1988 Olympics. The previous three were the United States (twice), Spain and Slovenia
Jose Alvarado scored 26 points, the most for Puerto Rico since Jose Ortiz put up 30 against Australia in 1996. The only player who scored more for Puerto Rico in his first game at the Olympics was Neftali Rivera with 29 points against Germany in 1972
FIBA