MALDONADO, Uruguay – There are lopsided victories and then there was Tuesday’s mother-of-all victories.
The USA Men’s U16 National Team left no doubt rolling to a 130-31 victory over Mexico to open the FIBA Americas U16 Championships. The U.S. set or tied three FIBA Americas U16 Championship and four USA U16 team records, including tying the highest point output in the two previouys U16 tournaments (2009 and 2011) held to date.
Seven USA players scored in double digits, while two posted double-doubles.
Leading the way was Diamond Stone of Dominican (Milwaukee, Wis.) with 20 points and eight rebounds; Malik Newman of Callaway (Jackson, Miss.), who hit 4-of-7 from 3-point, finished with 19 points; Ivan Rabb of Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) scored 14 and snared 12 rebounds; Harry Giles of Wesleyan Christian Academy (Winston-Salem, N.C.) posted 14 points and 10 rebounds; Josh Jackson of Consortium College Prep (Detroit) notched 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds; Jayson Tatum of Chaminade (St. Louis) scored 11 and Thomas Bryant of Bishop Kearney (Rochester, N.Y.) missed a double-double with 10 points and nine caroms.
The USA’s unselfish play was evidenced by 29 assists, including six from Devearl Ramsey of Sierra Canyon (Los Angeles).
Next up for the U.S. is a Wednesday game (6 p.m. ET) against South American rival Argentina, which downed Bahamas, 74-53. The USA caps the preliminary round Thursday against Bahamas (2 ET). Teams will be seeded following preliminary round play and semifinals are scheduled for Friday, with the finals played on Saturday.
All games are streamed live online at FIBAAmericas.com.
“I was very pleased with the team’s effort,” said USA head coach Don Showalter of Iowa City (Iowa). “There are three things that we try to instill in our players. The first is unselfishness, the second is to play smart and the third is to play aggressively. I thought we accomplished those three things today.
“It was an overall team effort. I thought we had some really good leadership out of our guards. Malik (Newman), Seventh (Woods) and Devearl (Ramsey) gave us some good leadership. I thought we were looking for each other, being unselfish and when that happens, you get a lot of easy baskets.”
The Red, White and Blue put on a show in the second quarter. The defense held Mexico to two field goals, while the offense upped the lead to 52 points, 68-16, at halftime.
While outscoring Mexico 31-8 in the third quarter and 31-7 in the fourth, the USA wowed the crowd with no-look passes, alley-oops and a variety of slam dunks en route to victory.
