MALDONADO, Uruguay – The USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team will go for gold Saturday afternoon.
In spite of a a slow start Friday, the Americans regrouped, surging past Puerto Rico, 93-64, and into the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championship gold medal game.
In the other medal semifinal, Argentina (3-1) knocked off Canada (3-1) 65-64 in overtime for the right to compete for the gold medal against the USA at 6 p.m. (5 p.m EDT).
All games will be streamed live online atFIBAAmericas.com. Puerto Rico and Canada will clash for the bronze at 3 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT).
Ivan Rabb of Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) and Diamond Stone of Dominican (Milwaukee) scored 19 points apiece to lead the U.S. squad. Also contributing double-digit scoring efforts were Josh Jackson of Consortium Prep (Detroit) College Prep and Thomas Bryant of Bishop Kearney (Rochester, N.Y.), who pitched in 13 and 11 points, respectively. Further, Rabb notched the game’s only double-double, finishing with 14, including nine off the offensive glass.
The USA has advanced to all three FIBA Americas U16 Championship gold medal games, defeating Argentina in 2009 (101-87) and 2011 (104-64) for gold, while rolling up a combined 14-0 record.
“We knew Puerto Rico was going to play that way,” said USA U16 head coach Don Showalter of Iowa City (Iowa). “Give them a lot of credit. They have the makings of being a pretty good team, I don’t think they have the depth, but they have guys who can make shots. We kept thinking that they’re not going to shoot a lot of threes tonight and they shot 24 threes. They shot 24 over their first three games.”
In unfamiliar territory of being on the low end of the scoreboard, the U.S. never panicked. After leading from wire-to-wire in its first three games, the Americans fell behind 5-0 in the early part of the game. Jackson got the team on the board at 8:08 off a feed from Seventh Woods of Hammond School (Columbia, S.C.), who had a team-high four assists.
“I think they came out like 5-0, but it happens,” Rabb said. “It’s just basketball. Everybody’s going to make a push. We pushed back and came out with the win tonight.”
Following a bucket on the other end, Stone got a put-back and Malik Newman of Callaway (Jackson, Miss.) hit a jumper to kick-start a 13-4 run that put the U.S. in front 15-11 at 4:51. However, Puerto Rico wouldn’t back down and from there the lead swapped hands twice before Showalter called for a time-out after the U.S. sent Puerto Rico to the line at 2:30. Getting back on the court after the time-out, the islanders made both free throws and earned their final lead of the game, 18-17, at 2:30.
“We came out sluggish at first, maybe thought they were just going to give us the game,”saidJayson Tatum (Chaminade College Prep / St. Louis, Mo.), who grabbed six rebounds. “So, coach talked to us and we picked it up offensively and defensively, especially rebounding.”
V.J. King of St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, Ohio) tied the game at 1:24 after he made the back end of a pair from the stripe. Then, with 36 seconds left in the first quarter, King missed a 3-pointer, but was quick to grab his own rebound and go in for two points to give the U.S. the lead for good, 20-18. Rabb got a layup with 11 seconds on the clock and the Americans closed the first quarter up 22-18.
Picking up right where they left off, the U.S. continued to stymie Puerto Rico’s scoring efforts, while reeling off 17 unanswered points to claim a commanding 39-18 lead. Puerto Rico finally ended its scoring drought, which started in the first quarter and lasted 9:16, with 3:14 remaining in the half. However, the U.S. matched Puerto Rico nearly point for point and at halftime the advantage was 47-25.
Six different players scored during the run, including Rabb, who notched eight of the USA’s first 10 points of the second quarter and grabbed five boards during that time, including three on the offensive end.
After outscoring Puerto Rico 26-19 in the third quarter, the U.S. eased up in the fourth quarter for the eventual 29-point victory.
In addition to Rabb’s 14 boards,King and Stone grabbed eight rebounds apiece, while Bryant had seven.
Ivan Gandia Rosa scored a game-high 21 points to lead his side. The U.S. held Puerto Rico’s leading rebounders Gerardo Texeira, who averaged 12.7 rebounds in his first three games, and Arnaldo Toro, 11.7 rpg. over three games, to just one and nine rebounds, respectively.
