The United States came to qualify, Puerto Rico came to win. Both got what they wanted, but somehow the Puerto Ricans felt better about it.
"It's the happiest day of my life," Coach Raymond Dalmau said Sunday night after Puerto Rico beat the United States for the first time ever and took the gold medal in the Tournament of the Americas basketball competition."They had the emotional edge," admitted U.S. coach Bobby Cremins after Puerto Rico's 88-80 victory left him holding the silver.
"Our goal was to qualify (for next year's world championships)," Cremins said. That was accomplished Thursday when the U.S. team made the semifinals by beating Canada.
The edge showed as Puerto Rico refused to be intimidated by a larger, faster U.S. team that couldn't seem to sink outside shots or free throws.
"Determination was the name of the game," said Puerto Rico's muscular center, Jerome Mincy, who scored 20 points, pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds and got the top U.S. scorer, center Doug Smith, into foul trouble.
It was the third time in as many years that the United States had failed to win an international tournament. U.S. teams lost to Brazil in the 1987 Pan American Games and to the Soviet Union in the '88 Olympics.
"I'm satisfied," Cremins said. "This was a lot tougher than I thought."
Cremins' team met for the first time on May 28 and had a week to practice before coming to Mexico.
Cremins said he had feared the U.S. team would not even be able to finish among the top five here, which would have left the United States out of the 1990 world championships in Argentina.
The biggest U.S. victory was an upset of the more experienced Brazilians Friday night.