South Sudan’s basketball team nearly pulled off a stunning victory over an American team of NBA superstars on Saturday, but lost 101-100 in a London Olympics practice match.

LeBron James, 39, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, scored a game-high 25 points, also scoring the game-clinching points with a layup with eight seconds left at the O2 Arena.

South Sudan, which led 58-44 at halftime, took an 8-0 lead in the closing stages and looked set to pull off one of the biggest upsets in international basketball until James made the save.

“The ending was good for us, just to feel that, to feel what it’s going to feel like in Paris,” said U.S. coach Steve Kerr.

“Good experience for us. Good reminder that when we play against teams, it’s the greatest experience of their lives and we have to expect everyone to play like that.”

JT Thor, who played for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets for the past three seasons, scored a three-pointer with 20 seconds left to give South Sudan a 100-99 lead.

After James made the game-winning shot, South Sudan had one final possession, but Carlik Jones missed a jumper with six seconds left and Wenyen Gabriel missed two put-back attempts before the final buzzer.

“South Sudan were great,” Kerr said. “I didn’t prepare my team well. We didn’t focus enough on what they can do and that’s my fault.

“I think that gave South Sudan early confidence.

“When we hit the gas pedal in the second half, they had already made a couple of three-pointers and were feeling really good about themselves.”

It was James who sparked the US on a 23-5 run from late in the third quarter to early in the fourth.

“We have to keep making strides,” said James, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time NBA champion.

“A lot of the teams we play practice for a month or months in advance and we might have two weeks together.

“So every game, every film session, we get a chance. We have to try to get the most out of it, and not take any steps back.”

Cameroonian-born Joel Embiid, who became a U.S. citizen in 2022, added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Americans.

Anthony Davis came on as a substitute and scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the American team with NBA stars.

“We’re not 100 percent together, as we saw tonight,” Davis said, “but it’s like I said, everything is controllable.”

For South Sudan, ranked 33rd in the world, Marial Shayok scored 24 points, Jones added 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists and Thor had 14 points as a substitute.

Shayok plays in China and briefly played alongside Embiid at Philadelphia, while Jones plays for Serbian powerhouse Partizan.

The Americans will play South Sudan again in the group stage of the Olympic Games on July 31 in Lille.

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