Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs scored 18 points to help the United States defeat Egypt, 112-55, yesterday, completing a sweep of pool games at the FIBA under-19 world basketball championships in Auckland, New Zealand.

Shelvin Mack added 14 points and John Shurna had 13 points and six rebounds for the Jamie Dixon-led Americans, who finished ahead of France, Egypt and Iran in Group B of the 16-team tournament. Gordon Hayward had 10 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Team USA led, 33-11, after the first quarter and 62-24 at halftime. With the game out of reach, all 12 players saw court time in the second half.

"We handled things well," Dixon said. "We knew this was a game that we should win. One of our goals was to finish the preliminary round with our group's No. 1 seed, and we achieved that."

The win followed a 106-55 victory against Iran and a 71-55 win over France and put the U.S. team into the second round, which begins today.

Unbeaten Croatia upset Argentina, 75-63, to finish as the top qualifier in Group D.

Australia remained undefeated to top Group C with a 96-54 victory against Syria. Spain later beat Canada, 82-75, to seal second place in Australia's group with a 2-1 record.

Lithuania beat Greece, 85-70, to finish atop Group A.