U.S. Routs U.S. Virgin Islands 123-59

LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Kobe Bryant spent the first part of his 29th birthday on the bench. No matter. Thanks to Michael Redd, Bryant wasn't missed. Redd came off the bench with a flurry of 3-pointers to

Friday, August 24th 2007, 7:28 am

By: News On 6

LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Kobe Bryant spent the first part of his 29th birthday on the bench. No matter. Thanks to Michael Redd, Bryant wasn't missed. Redd came off the bench with a flurry of 3-pointers to turn the game into an early rout, and the United States beat the U.S. Virgin Islands 123-59 on Thursday night in the FIBA Americas tournament.

Redd and Carmelo Anthony each scored 22 points for the Americans (2-0), who put together a dominant stretch immediately after Bryant went to the bench with his second foul less than 4 minutes into the game.

Mike Miller and Amare Stoudemire added 13 points apiece for the Americans, who shot 15-of-30 from 3-point range and had all 12 players score.

The Americans are off Friday before closing pool play with games Saturday against Canada and Sunday against Brazil.

Kevin Sheppard scored 11 points for the Virgin Islands, whose best player can't play for them. Tim Duncan started playing internationally for the United States in 1996, and once that happened the St. Croix native became ineligible to play for his home team. But he also wouldn't play against them, sitting out the Americans' 113-55 victory while playing for them in the 2003 Olympic qualifying tournament.

The Virgin Islands, with former UCLA and Georgia coach Jim Harrick on their bench as an assistant, also got nine points from Carl Krauser, Kitwana Rhymer and Jason Edwin.

The Americans scored only 21 points in the first quarter of their tournament opener, but needed only 5 minutes to reach that total Thursday.

The Virgin Islands got within 17-9 with 6:15 left in the first quarter when Edwin drew Bryant's second foul while scoring. Redd replaced Bryant and scored 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers, during the Americans' run of 17 straight points that made it 34-9.

Miller and Chauncey Billups made 3s later in the quarter, with Billups' shot at the buzzer giving the United States a 42-13 lead. The U.S. was 13-of-17 from the field (76 percent) in the period, including 8-of-10 from behind the arc. Redd had 15 points in 5 minutes.

The lead was 66-39 at halftime, and the third quarter quickly became festive. Fans in another small crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center sang ``Happy Birthday'' to Bryant while he was shooting free throws, and the Americans had a pair of highlight-reel plays a few minutes later.

Kidd threw a pass off the backboard so James could throw down a dunk, and Bryant found Howard with an alley-oop pass for an 80-44 lead.

Redd is being counted on to improve the Americans' perimeter shooting, their biggest weakness in recent years, and so far he's delivering. The Milwaukee Bucks guard was 3-of-5 behind the arc and scored 17 points in Wednesday's 112-69 victory over Venezuela, and added four more 3s Thursday.

The announced attendance was 5,554, about 1,000 below the opening night figure. There were perhaps 100 fans in the upper level of the 18,000-seat arena.