U.S. dunks Canada in final
To beat the Americans, Canada needed 40 minutes of poised, efficient and fearless basketball.
They had about six minutes of that at the beginning of the game. Then the U.S. squad asserted itself and stomped Canada 113-74 to win the FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship before a crowd of 4,240 at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines Saturday.
“I thought we did a pretty good job executing offensively, but they made some shots early, and we panicked a little bit,” said Dave Smart, the Canadian coach. “It got ugly quick.
“We had a good week. We did a lot of good things. It is the first time in international play for a lot of these guys, and when things don’t go the way you are used to, it’s hard to get back on track in a game like this and against a team like that.
“The kids are disappointed. I know they wanted to win for their country, but it is a called a qualifying tournament, and we qualified.”
Indeed, the top four teams earned berths at next year’s FIBA Under-19 World Cup in China. Puerto Rico and Argentina also qualified.
Canada led 12-9 at the 5:37 mark of the first quarter Before Coby White of the U.S. nailed a three to tie the score. Teammate Matthew Hurt put the U.S. ahead for a good 36 seconds later when he hit a three.
The Canadians trailed 31-21 after one quarter. The U.S. completely dominated the second quarter opening a 61-33 lead into halftime.
A.J. Lawson had 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead Canada while Andrew Nembhard had 12 points and eight assists.
Nembhard, Canada’s point guard and captain, was the focus of the American defensive effort from the opening tip. He ended up with eight turnovers.
“We just wanted to pick him up full-court and maybe tire him out,” said Coby White of the U.S. team. “He is the key, and if you want to kill the beast, you attack the head.
“He is a great player, and we just tried to contain him on every possession. I knew if we did a good job on him, we had a chance to win.”
White, who is headed to the University of North Carolina, led the balanced and powerful U.S. squad with 15.3 per game. He had 11 points against Canada in the final and was selected to the tournament all-star team, as was Nembhard.
“They pretty much killed us in every aspect of the game,” said Nembhard, who is headed to the University of Florida and drew accolades for his play all week.
“It was what we didn’t do as opposed to what they did. We didn’t stick to our game plan, and that backfired on us.
“It was a great environment here, and I’m proud to be Canadian. We need to use this as fuel
when we play them again next year.”
Tyrese Samuel had his best game of the tournament for Canada with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Emanuel Miller and Addison Patterson had 11 points apiece. Canada shot just 32 per cent from the field while the Americans hit their shots at a 49 per cent clip.
Five-star recruit Cole Anthony, the son of former NBAer Greg Anthony, scored 18 points to lead the U.S. to its fifth straight FIBA Americas under-18 title. The U.S. has a 59-2 record in the tournament. Kansas recruit Quentin Grimes and Matthew Hurt, who hasn’t picked a college, added 17 points each.
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had 14 points for the U.S. team. The six-foot-nine forward has yet to pick a school, but received his first scholarship offer, from the University of Kansas, when he was 14.
“For a bunch of talented kids who haven’t been together very long, I thought we shared the ball really well,” said Bill Self, the U.S. coach. “Guys accepted their roles. The guys who didn’t play were great teammates. It was a fun group to be around.”
Joining Nembhard and White on the all-star team were Grimes, Anthony and Franciso Caffaro, a seven-foot centre for Argentina. Grimes was the MVP. He averaged 14.7 points, four rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
Argentina beat Puerto Rico 87-79 to win the bronze.
The tournament drew more than 25,000 over six days of play.