BÉLEM, Brazil – A day after the Americans dug themselves an early hole, they coasted to victory on Tuesday.
The USA improved to 2-0 at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship with a 104-52 win over winless Mexico (0-2) at the Guilherme Paraense Arena.
Amari Bailey (Sierra Canyon H.S./Chatsworth, Calif.) led the USA with 21 points, including 8-of-8 shooting from the free throw line, to go with his six assists; Jalen Duren (Roman Catholic H.S., Pa./New Castle, Del.) had 18 points, 17 rebounds and five assists; Richard Isaacs Jr. (Coronado H.S./Las Vegas, Nev.) added 15 points; and Max Christie (Rolling Meadows H.S./Arlington Heights, Ill.) chipped in 12 points.
“We played very good defense today,” said USA U16 head coach Mike Jones of DeMatha Catholic High in Hyattsville, Md. “I think they had six or seven shot-clock violations. So, to not only play defense, but we stayed committed to it for the full 24 seconds. We rebounded the ball well. We had some guys who maybe didn’t have their best games yesterday really step up for us today.
“We had 31 assists and 12 turnovers. With the way we played, that’s a good number. Guys were willing to share the ball and not care about who made the basket, just trying to play as well as we can. If we keep doing that, we have a great chance to be successful here.”
“We had more energy today,” Bailey said . “We were more locked into our game plan. We thought about ‘us’ instead of ‘me.'”
The game was close in the first quarter, with the USA leading by just four points, 19-15, after the first 10 minutes.
The USA in the second period, however, outscored Mexico 35-13 to lead 54-28 at halftime and Duren’s double-double was on the books with a 14-point, 11-rebound effort in the first half.
The third quarter was more of the same, as the USA added 30 points while limiting Mexico to just eight points to lead 84-36 with 10 minutes to play.
Late in the third period, Isaacs connected on a trio of 3s in a span of 1:16, bringing his teammates on the bench to their feet each time.
“Pop Pop’s a knock-down shooter,” Bailey said of Isaacs. “He’s the best shooting point guard in our class, so him being able to knock down shots makes it easier on all of us.”
Mexico nearly kept pace with the USA in the fourth period, scoring 16 points to the USA’s 20, and the game ended with the USA earning a 104-52 victory.
In addition to Bailey’s six assists, Dillon Hunter (Westlake H.S./Atlanta, Ga.) also dished out six, while scoring nine points, as the U.S. squad totaled 31 dimes on 36 made field goals.
Defensively, the USA scored 37 points off of 23 Mexican turnovers and held Mexico to 31.8 percent (21-66 FGs) from the field and a frigid 9.5 percent (2-21 3pt FGs) from beyond the arc.
“When you’re getting shots from your defense, the game really gets fun,” Isaacs said. “We just have to make it a priority to play defense. We held them to single digits in one quarter, which is what coach wanted, so that was good.”
