Jayson Tatum of the U.S. gets a basket on a dunk Wednesday against South Sudan in a men’s basketball game in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. Tatum started for the U.S. after not playing in the opening game, and the Americans won, 103-86. Mark J. Terrill, Pool/Associated Press

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — In the rematch, the U.S. had an easier time with South Sudan than it did when the teams first met a couple of weeks ago.

Easier. Not easy.

The U.S. clinched a trip to the men’s basketball quarterfinals at the Paris Olympics by beating South Sudan 103-86 on Wednesday night – a game that wasn’t ever really in doubt but was no romp either. Bam Adebayo scored 18 points and Kevin Durant added 14 for the Americans, who took control with a 25-4 run in the first half.

Anthony Edwards finished 13 points and LeBron James had 12 for the U.S. Nuni Omot led South Sudan with 21 points, while Carlik Jones scored 18 and Bul Kuol finished with 16.

The win locked up a knockout-round berth and the No. 1 seed out of Group C for the U.S., which joined Canada, France and Germany in the quarterfinals. There are seven teams still alive for the other four quarterfinal spots; only Puerto Rico, which faces the Americans on Saturday, has been eliminated from contention to advance.

That said, Saturday’s game – the first between Puerto Rico and the U.S. at the Olympics since an embarrassing 92-73 loss in Athens 20 years ago — isn’t meaningless for the U.S. A 3-0 record in group play would give the Americans their best chance at a top-two seed for the knockout round and, in theory, an easier matchup in the quarterfinals.

Most of the drama, such as it was, happened pregame. U.S. Coach Steve Kerr changed his starting lineup, putting Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum in, and taking Jrue Holiday and Joel Embiid out. Embiid didn’t play at all, while Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton got their first playing time of the Olympics as the U.S. went to an 11-man rotation and took a 55-36 lead into the break.

SOCCER: Trinity Rodman and Korbin Albert scored and the United States remained undefeated in women’s soccer at the Olympics with a 2-1 victory over Australia in Marseille to conclude the group stage.

The Americans, who already had qualified for the quarterfinals, will play Japan on Saturday at Parc des Princes in Paris.

The United States is the winningest team in women’s soccer at the Olympics, with four gold medals.

The front trio of Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson have scored seven of the team’s nine goals in France.

Rodman broke through in the 43rd minute when she poked the ball into the net from a scramble in front.

Albert, who was subbed into the game in the second half, added a goal in the 77th minute.

U.S. midfielder Sam Coffey got a yellow card – her second of the tournament – in the fourth minute, meaning she won’t be available for Saturday’s quarterfinal.

Elsewhere:

•Vanessa Gilles scored in the 62nd minute to give Canada a 1-0 victory over Colombia and send the team into the quarterfinals despite losing six points because of a drone-spying scandal.

Canada will face Germany in a quarterfinals Saturday in Marseille.

Earlier in the day, the defending Olympic champions lost their bid to overturn the FIFA-ordered points deduction. But the Canadiens wound up second in their group, officially with three points, after winning all three of their matches.

• Lea Schueller scored twice and Germany advanced in second place in its group behind the U.S. by routing Zambia, 4-1, in Saint-Etienne.

• Athenea del Castillo and Alexia Putellas scored and Spain defeated Brazil 2-0 in a match that was spoiled for the Brazilians when captain Marta was sent off with a red card late in the first half.

Spain finished atop the group. Brazil also is headed to the quarterfinals as one of the two best third-place teams

• Maika Hamano, Mina Tanaka and Hikaru Kitagawa all scored in the first half for Japan in the first half, which finished second behind Spain after a 4-1 win over Nigeria.

TENNIS: Iga Swiatek dropped to her knees on the court and clutched at her midsection after getting hit by a ball during a point in the women’s singles quarterfinals, but it was her opponent, Danielle Collins of the United States, who stopped playing later in the third set.

Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion who is the top-seeded woman at the Summer Games, was leading 6-2, 1-6, 4-1 when Collins retired from the match after taking a medical timeout because of an injured stomach muscle, then getting another visit from a trainer.

Collins, a 30-year-old who was the runner-up at the 2022 Australian Open and has announced she will retire after this season, said she cramped and went into convulsions because of dehydration and exhaustion after competing in heat that reached 97 degrees on Tuesday.

In men’s singles, Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Dominik Koepfer of Germany, 7-5, 6-3, to get to the Olympics quarterfinals for the fourth time. Djokovic won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, but never has won a gold.

Djokovic next meets Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.

In other men’s third-round results, Carlos Alcaraz of Spain got past Roman Safiulin of Russia, 6-4, 6-2; Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada beat Daniil Medvedev of Russia, 6-3, 7-6 (5), Tommy Paul of the U.S. was a 7-6 (6), 6-3 winner against Corentin Moutet of France; and Taylor Fritz of the U.S. was knocked out by Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, 6-4, 7-5.

Rafael Nadal’s Paris Games ended when he and Alcaraz were eliminated in the men’s doubles quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to the fourth-seeded American duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.

Coco Gauff lost in both women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Gauff and Jessica Pegula, were the top-seeded women’s pair but were eliminated in the second round by the Czech duo of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova, 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 in a match tiebreaker in the afternoon. Then at night, Gauff and Fritz exited mixed doubles with a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 10-8 loss in another match tiebreaker to Gabby Dabrowski and Auger-Aliassime of Canada.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Tiffany Hayes scored 11 points, including the go-ahead basket with six seconds remaining, to lead Azerbaijan to a 20-17 win over the U.S. in 3×3 basketball pool play, dropping the defending champions to 0-2.

TRACK AND FIELD: Shericka Jackson of Jamaica will not run in the 100 meters, saying that the injury she suffered at a tuneup race earlier this month played a part in the decision.

Jackson said she will still run in her better event, the 200 meters, where she is the only woman other than the world-record holder, Florence Griffith Joyner, to finish in under 21.5 seconds.

The track competition starts Friday, highlighted by the opening round for the women’s 100, where Jackson had been listed as the second favorite behind world champion Sha’Carri Richardson.

TABLE TENNIS: Kanak Jha secured the U.S. its best Olympic run in men’s table tennis by reaching the last 16, while the shock of the tournament came when world No. 1 Wang Chuqin of China lost to 26th-ranked Truls Moregard of Sweden.

Jha, the 120th-ranked player in the world, beat Panagiotis Gionis of Greece, 4-2, to top Jimmy Butler’s round-of-32 appearance at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Jha will now face Tokyo 2021 silver medalist Fan Zhendong.