Dubai: Australian centre Isaac Humphries broke the record for most points per game at the Fiba Under-17 World Championship in an 85-79 final group-stage defeat to Canada at Al Ahli Arena on Monday.
Humphries top-scored with 41 points and 19 rebounds, surpassing the previous best of 37 set by South Korea’s Heo Hoon against Lithuania in 2012. However, despite his efforts, Canada pulled back from a 25-22 first-quarter loss to dominate 15-8, 22-18, 26-23.
The result now means Australia, who won their earlier games 97-84 against Japan and 84-81 against France, will finish third in Group B and will most probably play Greece in Tuesday’s round of 16. Canada meanwhile, finished second in Group B, and will play Angola. Humphries said defeat was bittersweet.
“I was pretty disappointed after the game but a Canadian player said: ‘What are you worried about, you’ve got 41 points?’, but it’s not about that, it’s about the team,” said Humphries.
“It doesn’t matter about the points at the end of the day. We played pretty well but we just didn’t come along with it unfortunately. But we all did the best we could.”
Australia coach Mark Watkins praised Humphries but was disappointed with the result.
“Isaac has been with me since he was 12 and he’s just getting better every week,” said Watkins. “The things he showed me today, I hadn’t seen before. I’m pleased for him but disappointed for the loss.
“The other boys didn’t come along with him. We were one in 19 from the three-point line and our guards are supposedly our strength. I thought our big guys played pretty decent today but our guards let us down offensively and defensively.”
Meanwhile, China coach Jizeng Liu believes a top-eight finish is still realistic, after salvaging an 84-58 last group stage win over Egypt in Monday’s earlier game at the Al Ahli Arena.
Jingiu Hu and Hao Fu joint top-scored with 18 points apiece, while Hu made 16 total rebounds, as the Chinese overcame the Egyptians 21-11, 30-8, 13-23 and 20-16.
The Reds lost their opening games 80-68 to Serbia and 75-70 to Argentina, and are now likely to finish third in Group D with the possibility of facing either Spain or Italy in Tuesday’s round of 16. Despite the threat those two teams pose, Liu was upbeat.
“Our team is very young and we have a good opportunity going forward,” he said. “We are a good team and we will play very hard in every match. We don’t yet know who are opponents are in the next stage but I hope we can win after this game.
“Every coach and every player wants that. I don’t know how far we can go but if we get into the last eight I will be very happy, we will try our best.”
Liu added that victory over the Egyptians, had renewed his side’s confidence, but added that man-of-the-match Hu, who is now on 45 points for the tournament, could be a doubt going forward.
“We did a lot of preparation for Egypt. Their centre was very strong and fast and we tried our best to block him.
“Hu put up a good performance and he is a good player in our team but he may need a little rest after three games because he’s been on court too long.”
