by State Journal staff , Wisconsin State Journal

Iowa State forward Craig Brackins had 12 points and nine rebounds as the Americans opened Group H play with an 87-40 victory over Finland in the men's basketball competition Friday.

The U.S. led by 20 at halftime, then closed the game with a 35-4 run - including a 23-2 advantage in the fourth quarter.

"The thing I like about our team, and I've told them from day one, is our guys do a great job of observing from the bench. Giving up two points in the fourth quarter shows that our guys made the adjustments," said Ryan, the University of Wisconsin men's basketball coach whose team scored the game's last 21 points.

Villanova guard Corey Fisher also had 12 points, Penn State guard Talor Battle added 11 and Purdue forward Robbie Hummel pitched in 10 for the U.S., which shot 50 percent from the field (32-for-64) and outrebounded Finland 54-34.

Marquette forward Lazar Hayward finished with three points and eight rebounds. The Americans hit 42 percent of their 3-pointers, led by Battle's 3-for-3 performance.

"We shot nine of 21 (from 3-point range) - that's 27 points on 21 shots. Any time you can make more points from your 3s than you took shots, obviously, that's pretty good," Ryan said. "If it's there we take it, but I liked some of the 3s where we penetrated, drew the help and then kicked to our teammates."

Finland (1-1), which beat South Korea 90-75 in its opener Thursday, shot just 23 percent from the floor - including 4-for-24 on 3-pointers.

The U.S. plays South Korea tonight in the finale of pool play.

The top two teams in each of the eight pools advance to Monday's second round, while the other 10 teams will play for 17th through 26th places.

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