USA complete hat-trick of wins in Fiba U17 World Championship

USA complete hat-trick of wins

Skipper Malik top-scores with 21 points as Americans take third successive U17 crown

Dubai: The final was always meant to be a close affair. And to the modest crowd at the Hamdan Sports Complex it was truly a manifestation of some superb skills and shooting acumen as two-time undefeated champions USA beat Australia 99-92 to complete a hat-trick in the 2014 Fiba U17 World Championship.

Saturday’s taming of Australia extended the USA’s undefeated run to 15 matches in this competition, beginning with the inaugural World Championship held in Hamburg, Germany in 2010.

Two years back it was the likes of Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow giving the Americans a second successive title in Kaunas, Lithuania. The Australians then had Dante Exum and Ben Simmons to match the might of the undefeated Americans.

But in Saturday’s match-up, the men from Down Under had Isaac Humphries, Dejan Vasiljevic and Harry Froling to try and do what Exum and Simmons could not – hand the USA their first loss in the history of the U17 World Championship.

In Friday’s semi-finals, Australia had secured a dramatic over-time 80-74 win over European champions Spain after the USA had set their sights on a third straight crown with a well-fought 89-68 win over Serbia.

They tried and, to their credit, even managed to lead the mighty star-studded Americans at one stage. But they just could not sustain the pressure and were beaten by the depth on the USA bench.

Two three-pointers from Dejan Vasiljevic saw Australia enjoy an early ten-point cushion at 17-7 prompting American coach Donald Showalter to call for the first time-out of the match. A drive-in by Tatum with 2.17 left saw the Americans within a point at 23-22.

Ultimately, the USA regained the lead 26-25 with Tatum driving in after a clever snatch and just 12.7 seconds remaining. The Americans were up 28-27 at the end of the first period.

In the second quarter, things started going the defending champions’ way with captain Malik Newman leading from the front with 17 points, including a couple of three-pointers and a rebound. The Americans managed to hold off their opponents to walk away with a seven-point advantage, 50-43, at half-time.

In the third quarter, the USA maintained a ten-point lead at 74-64 with Malik adding just a couple from inside the shaded line. In the final period, the Americans started running away establishing a 15-point lead at one stage at 85-70.

However, Australia came on even more strongly through Vasiljevic’s and Kouat Noi’s accurate shooting from outside the area causing maximum damage. But they ultimately ran out of time as the defending champions held their nerve to win 99-92.

Earlier, Serbia at last came alive to claim the bronze medal with a 62-59 win over European champions Spain in a riveting encounter.

Serbia trailed their fellow Europeans in all three quarters (13-15, 22-28 and 43-44), but came up with one final flourish towards the end of the third quarter with one point separating the two teams (43-44).

In the final quarter, the Serbians held their nerve, simply played better and got the scoreboard ticking at the right time to out-score the Spaniards and win by three points to register their best performance in this age group competition.

The win was also sweet revenge for the Serbs after losing by a single point in over-time to Spain in last year’s U16 European Championship.

Results:

USA 99 Australia 92

Serbia 62 Spain 59

Puerto Rico 65 Canada 63

China 87 France 79

Italy 66 Argentina 62

Angola 59 Greece 51

Egypt 68 Japan 53

Philippines 115 UAE 51

Positions:

1. USA