Amid a broiling atmosphere tonight in which the teams were meeting for the fifth time in two weeks - the first half between Puerto Rico and the retooled Dream Team ended in a benches-clearing fracas of shoves, angry words and plastic cups hurled from the stands - the United States accomplished its primary goal and breathed a sigh of relief.

The players rode the emotion of halftime to a 23-point lead in the third quarter and hung on to beat Puerto Rico, 87-71, in the Tournament of Americas semifinals.

The teams shook hands and hugged after the game as the United States team earned a place in Sunday's gold-medal game against Argentina. But both of those teams automatically qualified for the Olympics, because the top three teams from the Americas region advance.

In the earlier semifinal tonight, the San Antonio Spurs' Manu Gin?bili scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half, leading Argentina to an 88-72 rout of Canada.

Puerto Rico and Canada will play Sunday for the bronze medal and the final berth in the Olympics.