PAN AM ROUNDUP : U.S. Loses Again in Basketball

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina —  It’s not exactly Omaha, and this isn’t the Continental Basketball Assn. It’s bigger--well, sort of, for Mike Thibault, coach of the U.S. Pan American men’s basketball team.

“I feel like I am in front of a firing squad,” Thibault said after his team of CBA players fell to 0-2 with its second close defeat, 101-98, to Brazil on Monday night.

It was the first time a U.S. team has lost twice in one Pan Am Games. The United States is 71-5 in Pan Am play since 1951, but hasn’t won a gold medal since 1983.

The United States fell behind Brazil by 18 points late in the first half, then led by as many as three in the second.

The United States needs victories over Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Mexico the next three nights to reach Friday’s semifinals.

In other sports, weightlifters from Honduras and Peru tested positive for steroids.

Officials said Honduran Nelson Stanley and Peruvian Rolando Marchinares had used Nandrolone, an anabolic steroid. Both face disciplinary action because they already finished competing here.

Stanley had two sixth-place finishes and one seventh in the 91-kilogram class. Marchinares competed in the 108-kilo class and had two fifths and a sixth.

Earlier Monday, the U.S. women’s softball team reached a standard that might never be matched in international competition. The Americans beat Netherlands Antilles, 10-0, for their 100th consecutive victory. They made it 101 with a 2-0 victory over Canada.

Not since 1983 in the Pan Am gold-medal game have the American women lost. Just in Pan Ams, they have outscored the opposition, 51-1 (1987); 60-3 (1991) and 61-1 (1995).

U.S. boxers guaranteed themselves at least three bronze medals with victories by super heavyweight Lance Whitaker in a walkover, 106-pounder Albert Guardado and middleweight Ronald Simms.

Through Monday, the United States led with 135 gold medals and 313 overall. Cuba had 59 gold and 146 total medals.