The new kids on the block gave the mighty United States men’s basketball team one heck of a scare. South Sudan, which gained its independence in 2011, nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets ever witnessed on the sport’s international stage. It took a LeBron James layup with eight seconds remaining on Saturday for Team USA to avoid an epoch-defining loss.
The Americans trailed by 16 points before halftime, but squeaked out a 101-100 win in a pre-Olympic tune-up at 02 Arena in London. Despite falling one basket short, South Sudan was still the story. A team with no NBA players (though several have played at least few games in the league) led for most of the night against a collection of talent not seen since the 1992 Dream Team.
South Sudan’s leading scorer was born and raised in Ottawa: Marial Shayok scored a team-high 24 points, including 6-for-12 shooting on three-pointers. Shayok finished high school at a prep school in New Jersey and went on to play for Virginia and Iowa State in the NCAA, before spending four games in the NBA with Philadelphia. He has held more prominent roles in the NBA G League and overseas.
Wenyen Gabriel, JT Thor and Carlik Jones have all spent time in the NBA. Thon Maker, taken by the Milwaukee Bucks with 10th pick of the 2016 NBA draft, is attempting to play for South Sudan after previously playing for Australia. (Maker played high school basketball at Athlete Institute, in Orangeville, Ont.
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