NOT A DREAM OPENING : NBA STARS BARELY DEFEAT COLLEGIANS DREAM TEAM 96, SELECT TEAM 90.

Byline: Chris Sheridan Associated Press

The Dream Team lost the first half - and lost it badly.

That was the defining theme of the U.S. Olympic team's first exhibition game, a 96-90 comeback victory over the U.S. 22-and-under team on Saturday.

``That was the best kind of game we could have had to open the exhibition season,'' said guard John Stockton, a member of the original Dream Team in 1992.

``They showed us we're going to have to play. Hopefully, it was a good wake-up call.''

After watching the U.S. 22-and-under team strut off the court at halftime with a 17-point lead, the Olympians woke up in the second half in the first stop of their five-game exhibition tour.

It was nothing like what was expected, especially until the midpoint of the second half. The Select Team led for all but one of the first 32 minutes and held a 59-42 halftime lead.

``We caught them off guard and I'm sure they took us too lightly,'' Providence forward Austin Croshere said. ``We didn't care if they dunked on us. It was bound to happen anyway.''

But in the second half, Hakeem Olajuwon and Scottie Pippen scored 27 of the Olympic team's first 29 points to cut the deficit to two, and a 17-7 run ensured that a Dream Team would not lose for the first time.

As it was, though, it was the first time any of the three Dream Teams since 1992 had ever fallen behind by more than 10 points. And it will go down in the memory of Shea Seals, Croshere and Tim Duncan as the day they beat the Dream Team - at least for a half.

Pippen led the Olympic team with 17 points, while Olajuwon had 16, Karl Malone 13, David Robinson 12 and Charles Barkley 11. Mitch Richmond and Anfernee Hardaway did not score.

Seals, a guard from Tulsa, had 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting for the Select Team. The 6-9 Croshere scored 10 and had a moment to remember in the third minute of the game, when he rejected a shot by 7-1 Shaquille O'Neal.

If there actually is a way to beat the Dream Team, the Select Team members gave an example of what it will take. They made eight of their first 10 shots, hit six 3-pointers in the first half and shot 63 percent overall in the opening 20 minutes.

Most of the 3-pointers were uncontested as the Dream Team did not seem interested in playing aggressive defense.

``I wasn't enjoying it, but I wouldn't say I was worried,'' Stockton said.

``I was concerned,'' Olajuwon said.

That changed in the second half, after the Select Team left the floor, high-fiving and smiling following a 20-2 run to end the half.

Olajuwon and Pippen scored all the points in an 11-4 run to open the second half. After the deficit again grew to 15, the Olympians had a 21-5 spurt, highlighted by a fast-break dunk by Pippen off a steal by Gary Payton with 9:50 remaining. That cut the deficit to 73-71 and Robinson tied the game a minute later on a layup - the first tie since 5-5.

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Photo

Photo: Charles Barkley (4), who scored 11 points for the U. S. Olympic team, is fouled by Maurice Taylor in an exhibition at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Associated Press