This sounds like some of my old games from down at Forest Valley and for some crazy and uncalled for reason, I would have been playing for Costa Rica, in the seasons spanning 1980-2010….Now I have moved my game to Jefferson School and seem to be doing better versus the elementary competition……..WOW 118-46, maybe we’ll see a few of these U16’s in the NBA one day……..The tallest player for Costa Rica was 6’1 and that reminds me of some of those young centers over at Jefferson…..
USA U16 Men Overpower Smaller Costa Rican Squad 118-46, Advance To Medal Semifinal Round
Theo Pinson was one of seven U.S. players who scored in double digits against Costa Rica.
CANCUN, Mexico (June 23, 2011) –Conner Frankamp (Wichita North H.S. / Wichita,
Kan.) scored a team-high 22 points and Aaron Gordon (Archbishop Mitty H.S. / San
Jose, Calif.) barely missed out on a quadruple-double as the 2011 USA Basketball
Men’s U16 National Team (3-0) cruised past Costa Rica
(0-3) 118-46 at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship on Thursday afternoon at
Poliforum Benito Juarez in Cancun, Mexico.
The U.S., top seed advancing out of Group B, will face the No. 2 team advancing out
of Group A in Friday’s medal semifinals (7:00 p.m. EDT on www.fibaamericas.com) for
the right to play for the gold medal on Saturday night.
Frankamp, who struggled with his shooting in the USA’s first two games, found his
stroke and netted 10-of-13 from the field, 2-of-5 from 3-point range, and missed a
double-double by one assist. Gordon filled the stat sheet with 18 points, 18
rebounds, a FIBA Americas U16 Championship and USA record eight blocked shots and
he, along with Frankamp, dished out a USA and U16 tournament record nine assists.
“I wasn’t even thinking about any of my stat lines, not rebounding, shot blocking,
scoring, I wasn’t thinking about any of it,” said Gordon. “I was just trying to help
my team win. They weren’t the greatest team, so I think I need to take what I did in
this game and use it as a lead-in to our semifinal game tomorrow night and help my
team by getting the same stats.”
“Watching Costa Rica in their first two games I knew that talent-wise, we’re
superior, we’re taller and more athletic,” said USA U16 National Team head coachDon
Showalter (Mid-Prairie High School, Iowa). “But, we want to get the point across to
our kids that we’re preparing for the next two games. We didn’t press except for the
first couple of minutes of the game. We worked a lot on our defense and I think our
kids responded really well. We still played hard and did the things we wanted to do
to play better.”
Every healthy U.S. player scored, including seven in double digits as Kendrick Nunn
(Simeon H.S. / Chicago, Ill.) pitched in 12 points,Theo Pinson (Oak Ridge Military
Academy / Greensboro, N.C.) scored 11 and grabbed 10 boards; whileLarry Austin
(Lanphier H.S. / Springfield, Ill.),Dom Collier (Denver East H.S. / Denver, Colo.)
andJahlil Okafor (Whitney Young H.S. / Chicago, Ill.) added 10 points apiece.