U.S. dominates in second half to beat Turkey at Basketball World Cup

BILBAO, Spain —  Kenneth Faried had 22 points, Anthony Davis scored all of his 19 in the second half, and the U.S. rebounded from a rare deficit at halftime to beat Turkey, 98-77, on Sunday in the Basketball World Cup.

A night after beating Finland by 59 in its biggest rout ever while using NBA players in the former world championship, the Americans couldn’t take control against Turkey until early in the fourth quarter.

They trailed 40-35 at halftime and Turkey led by six early in the third before the Americans could finally get the game into the quicker tempo they prefer and pull away to win the rematch of the 2010 gold-medal game in Istanbul.

But it was a much tougher one than expected after the Americans hammered Finland 114-55 while Turkey was being outplayed for most of its opener by New Zealand before pulling out the victory.