Paris Olympics: Fredette, Team USA fall to Serbia in 3x3 opener

PARIS — Jimmer Fredette's return to basketball has been filled with excitement, but his start to the Paris Olympics could have gone better.

The former BYU men's basketball star scored just 4 points with one rebound in Team USA's 22-14 loss to Serbia in 3x3 men's basketball pool play Tuesday at La Concorde.

Mark Brankovic had 8 points and three rebounds to lead Serbia, which shot 12-of-12 from inside the 2-point arc with three 2-pointers (the equivalent of a 3-pointer in 3x3 basketball).

Kareem Maddox had 6 points to lead the United States, which continues pool play Wednesday against Poland.

Fredette showcased his trademark shooting skills in Tuesday's loss, including a stepback crossover between his legs before nailing a 2-pointer to give the Americans a 3-2 lead in the first minute of the game.

But that may have been the most rhythm the Americans found in a game where they shot 10-of-16 from inside the arc and just 2-of-6 from deep.

"It's good to be able to see that, feel that crowd, feel that energy, what it's going to be like," Fredette told USA Today Sports following the loss. "(Serbia) just did a better job than us of executing their game plan."

It was the continuation of a poor start for the Americans in 3x3 hoops, after the women's team suffered a 17-13 upset loss to Germany on Tuesday. Hailey Van Lith, the former LSU and Louisville standout who will play next season at TCU, led Team USA with 6 points on 5-of-9 shooting and a pair of assists in 95-degree heat.

"I don't think I've ever drank so much water in my life," Van Lith said, per Yahoo Sports. "Or like the liquid IVs — I've had like five today."

Utah's Booth, US men's soccer cruises into knockout stage

Kevin Paredes had a brace and Djordje Mihailovic added a goal as the United States cruised into the knockout stage of the Olympic men's soccer tournament with a 3-0 win over Guinea at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Marseille.

Former Real Salt Lake Academy standout Taylor Booth, a native of Eden, entered the match as a 66th-minute substitute in the Americans' third shutout victory since the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona and fourth all-time at the Olympics.

The first men's soccer Olympian from Utah, per the U.S. Soccer Federation, has played in all three matches as a sub for the Yanks.

In their first Olympic men's soccer tournament since Beijing 2008, Booth and Team USA are through to the knockout stage for the first time since the Sydney Summer Games in 2000. It's just the second time the United States had advanced from the group since the current tournament format was introduced in 1960.

Rovetti ends Olympic medal drought for former BYU athletes

Alex "Spiff" Sedrick, who prepped at Herriman High, scored the winning try to lead the United States to a first-of-its kind medal with a 14-12 upset victory over Australia in the bronze-medal match in sevens rugby.

But the win made another kind of history for U.S. teammate Stephanie Rovetti.

The former BYU women's basketball player became the fourth BYU female athlete to medal in an Olympic Games and the first since women's soccer alum Shauna Rohbock medaled in two-woman bobsled at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. She joins former track and field athlete Christy Opara Thompson, who medaled for Nigeria's 4x100-meter relay team in 1984 and Lelei Fonoimoana-Moore, a 4x100-meter medley swimmer who medaled in 1976.

Rovetti is the first medalist from BYU since Taylor Sander helped the men's volleyball team to bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

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