HERAKLION, Greece — The United States U19 World Championship team waited two years for this moment.
The undefeated Americans, bruised by an unexpected bronze medal finish in the 2017 U19 tournament, got to stand on a podium and listen to the national anthem late Sunday night after defeating rising African power Mali, 93-79, in a competitive gold medal game in Crete that wasn’t settle until the opening minutes of the second half.
“It means a lot because there aren’t too many people walking around with a gold medal,’’ Mississippi State sophomore powerhouse center Reggie Perry said. “We knew coming in that it was going to be tough, and we wanted it. We knew our team had lost a couple a years ago and we wanted to come back and get revenge
The 6-8 Perry, who scored 10 points, was selected MVP of the tournament after averaging team highs of 13.1 points and 7.9 rebounds during the seven-game tournament. He was joined on the All Star 5 by Iowa State sophomore point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who had eight of Team USA’s 28 assists against Mali and seven or more assists in five of the team’s seven games; Mali’s 6-10 center and Gonzaga incoming freshman Oumar Ballo, French guard Joel Ayayui and Maii point guard Siriman Kanoute.
Team USA was coached by Bruce Weber of Kansas State, who was an inspired choice for the job. Weber and his staff of Mike Hopkins of Washington and LeVelle Moton of North Carolina Central did a great job making up for the fact the Americans lacked pure three- point shooters by creating a deep, athletic, unselfish team that averaged 28.6 assists and wore opposing teams down with relentless pressure defense. The Americans averaged 100.9 points and their margin of victory was 28.7 points per game.
Five players scored in double figures against Mali Cade Cunningham, a 6-7 senior point guard from Montverde, Fla. Academy, led the way with 21 points. Jalen Suggs, a 6-5 point guard who was the team’s best on the ball defender from Minnehaha, Minn. Academy scored 15 points to go with five rebounds. Versatile incoming Villanova freshman 6-8 forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds before sitting out the second half with a bruised heel and 6-9 senior forward Scottie Barnes of University School in West Palm Beach, Fla. contributed 11 points and 8 assists.
This one wasn’t easy. Team USA only had a 42-40 lead over Mali before opening up the third quarter with a 12-0 run that became a 17-2 stretch and the U.S. led 59-42 with 5:42 left in the third quarter. Mali never got closer than seven points the rest of the game
The U.S. is now 98-14 all time in U19 men’s competition with seven gold medals, three silvers and one bronze. “Just wearing USA across my chest means the world to me,’’ Haliburton said. “I come from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 70,000 people. People like me in small towns, we don’t get the opportunity to do this. I wasn’t the most recognized kid growing up, and just my family and things like that, it means the world to me to be a gold medalist.’’
