USA U16 Men Advance To Gold Medal Game With 113-70 Conquest Of Canada
“I’ve not played on a team (that plays defense) like this,” said Theo Pinson/ORMA. “We preach defense in my high school team, but we don’t preach it like this team. We knew we have to win with defense.”
CANCUN, Mexico– Recording 22 points and eight rebounds,Aaron
Gordon (Archbishop Mitty H.S. / San Jose, Calif.) led the way as the 2011 USA
Basketball Men’s U16 National Team (4-0) conquered Canada (2-2) 113-70 in medal
semifinal action at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship on Friday night at Poliforum
Benito Juarez in Cancun, Mexico.
With the victory, the U.S. not only advanced to the gold medal game, in which it
will have a rematch with Argentina (3-1), but qualified for the 2012 FIBA U17 World
Championship. Argentina defeated Puerto Rico (3-1) 96-90 in the other semifinal and
Canada will face Puerto Rico for the bronze medal. The gold medal game will be
streamed live online on June 25 at 9:00 p.m. (EDT) at www.fibaamericas.com.
Every healthy member of the U.S. team scored no less than five points apiece and
five were in double digits. In addition to Gordon, who also had four assists, three
blocked shots and three steals,Jahlil Okafor (Whitney Young H.S. / Chicago, Ill.)
had 16 points,Theo Pinson (Oakridge Military Academy / Greensboro, N.C.) netted
15, Justin Jackson (Home School Christian Youth Association / Houston, Texas) notched
14 andKendrick Nunn (Simeon H.S. / Chicago, Ill.) chipped in 10 points. Further,Tyus
Jones (Apple Valley H.S. / Apple Valley, Minn.) and Larry Austin (Lanphier H.S. /
Springfield, Ill.) dished out eight and seven of the USA’s 30 assists, respectively.
“We talked about this being a crucial game for us, because it automatically
qualifies us for the U17 World Championship,” said USA U16 National Team head
coachDon Showalter (Mid-Prairie High School, Iowa). “We respect Canada a lot.
They’re coached very well, they’ve always given us good games the last two years.
They took third in the world last year at the U17s and we certainly didn’t take them
lightly. I thought our kids were really, really focused coming out of the locker
room.”