Barry leads Team USA to victories over France and China in 3x3 pool play

PARIS (AP) — Despite facing a short-handed team, Canyon Barry led the U.S. men's team to two impressive victories on Friday in 3x3 basketball pool play at the Paris Olympics.

Barry scored 14 points in a 21-17 win over China in the nightcap after dropping 16 in a 21-19 victory over France earlier Friday.

“Winning in the Olympics is fun,” a beaming Barry said. “I’ll tell you that there’s not much of a better feeling than that.”

The U.S., which played without star Jimmer Fredette for a third straight game because of a lower extremity injury, had dropped its first four games of the tournament.

“It’s exhausting, it’s brutal,” Barry said of playing a man down. “But we’re Olympians, we’ve trained for it. Obviously, not ideal circumstances, but… you have to be able to push through and persevere. And that’s what makes being an Olympian special.”

The U.S. led China by 6 after a 2-pointer by Dylan Travis with about two minutes to go. Ning Zhang then scored three points for China to cut the lead to 18-15.

Travis made a basket before Jiaren Zhao hit two free throws to make it 19-17 with less than a minute to go. Barry pulled up at the top of the key and nailed a 2-pointer to end it with 36 seconds left.

Travis raved about Barry’s work Friday.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “I don’t know, it’s like he was playing with a higher power or something.”

China fell to 1-5 with the loss.

In the early game, France took the lead on a basket by Franck Seguela with 90 seconds to go. Barry, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry, then took over.

He scored a basket before making two of the underhanded free throws his father made famous to leave the U.S. one point from the win.

Timothe Vergiat got France within one on a basket with less than a minute to go before Barry drove and made an off-balance layup to close it out with 50 seconds remaining. Barry sat on the court and screamed as his teammates jumped around him celebrating.

U.S. player Kareem Maddox said the message before the Friday’s games was simple.

“Just fight,” he said. “I feel a lot of responsibility to fight and just keep fighting. That’s all you can do and Jimmer is right there with us, helping us every step of the way.”

Seguela had seven points and seven rebounds for France, which dropped to 2-4 in pool play.