FI2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men
CONTACT: Mary Ullmann Japhet 210-414-9030
Sunday, July 2

Basketball

USA/ARGENTINA
Gold medal game

FIBA AMERICAS U-18 CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MEN
USA WINS GOLD

SAN ANTONIO - USA won the gold medal Sunday with a 104-82 victory over Argentina at the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship for Men at St. Mary's University's Greehey Arena.

The American squad, 4-0 at the tournament, was paced by 7-foot center Spencer Hawes who scored a game-high 24 points. Hawes, who has signed a letter of intent with the University of Washington, made 9 of 13 shots from the field (69 percent) and sank 6 of 6 free throws. Considered by many to be a future NBA prospect, Hawes also pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked two shots. Taylor King, a 6-foot-7 forward who signed with Duke, added 14 points, shooting 4 of 7 from the field (57 percent) and 4 of 5 (80 percent) in the three-point range. Forwards Kyle Singler and Michael Beasley each scored 13 points. Singler also led the game with six assists.

Argentina (4-1) had a 23-point performance from guard Nicolas De Los Santos, who shot 7 of 17 (41 percent). Guard Diego Gerbaudo scored 21 points and dished out five assists. Forward Sebastian Uranga completed the double-figure scorers with 11 points, on 50 percent shooting (5 of 10).

USA led 52-42 at halftime. But Argentina had led by as much as six points in the first period, despite a 10-0 run by the USA to open the game. USA outscored Argentina 28-16 in the thinrd quarter and finished the period with a 22-point lead, 80-58. The Argentine squad could get no closer than 16 points after that mark.

Argentina shot 40 percent from the field (25 of 63) and 32 percent (7 of 22) in three pointers, along with sinking 25 of 30 free throws (83 percent). USA went 49 percent (35 of 72) from the field, 50 percent (7 of 14) in three-point scoring and 79 percent (27 of 34) at the free throw line. In rebounds, USA held a 41-21 advantage.

In other action, the bronze medal went to Brazil, a 79-70 winner over Canada. The USA, Argentina, Brazil and Canada all qualified for the FIBA U-19 World Championship in July 2007, at a site to be determined.
Fifth place was won by Puerto Rico, which beat Uruguay 95-92 in overtime.

FIBA AMERICAS U-18 CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MEN
at St. Mary's University's Greehey Arena
San Antonio, Texas
Sunday's Gold Medal Game
USA 104, ARGENTINA 82

Argentina - Diego Gerbaudo 4-10 13-14 21, Nicolas De Los Santos 7-17 7-8 23, Ruiz 0-0 0-0 0, Vega 0-1 0-0 0, Pineiro 2-4 0-0 6, Cecchi 3-10 0-0 8, Traverso 0-2 4-6 4, Morales 1-3 1-2 3, Sebastian Uranga 5-10 0-0 11, Orlietti 0-0 0-0 0, Sahdi 2-5 0-0 4, Aguerre 1-1 0-0 2. Totals - 25-63 25-30 82.

FG% - 40%
3-PT. FG% - 32%
FT% - 83%

USA - Flynn 3-10 2-2 8, Bayless 3-11 0-0 7, Smith 1-4 6-6 8, Taylor King 4-7 2-2 14, Kyle Singler 5-8 2-3 13, Robinson 3-5 0-1 6, Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Greene 1-2 0-0 3, Summers 2-4 4-6 8, Michael Beasley 4-8 5-8 13, Spencer Hawes 9-13 6-6 24. Totals - 35-72 27-34 104.

FG% - 49%
3-PT. FG% - 50%
FT% - 79%

3-point goals - Argentina 7-22 (Pineiro 2-4, Cecchi 2-4, De Los Santos 2-6, Uranga 1-3, Sahdi 0-1, Vega 0-1, Gerbaudo 0-3), USA 7-14 (King 4-5, Greene 1-1, Bayless 1-2, Singler 1-3, Flynn 0-3).

Total fouls - Argentina 31, USA 24. Fouled out - USA: Smith, Singler. Technials - none.

Rebounds - Argentina 21 (Cecchi 6), USA 41 (Hawes 10).

Assists - Argentina 10 (Gerbaudo 5), USA 22 (Singler 6).

Steals - Argentina 10 (De Los Santos 3), USA 9 (Flynn, Bayless, Singler, with 2 each).

Blocked shots - Argentina 4 (Uranga 2), USA 2 (Hawes 2).

Turnovers - Argentina 19, USA 17.

Officials - Fernando Serpa (Brazil) Jose Carrion (Puerto Rico), Oleg Latisevs (Lithuania)

Tournament records - Argentina 4-1, USA 4-0

OTHER RESULTS
Bronze Medal Game
Brazil 79, Canada 70

Note: USA, Argentina, Brazil and Canada quailified for the FIBA U-19 World Championship in July 2007 at s site to be determined.

Fifth/Sixth-Place Game
Puerto Rico 95, Uruguay 92 (ot)

NAME: Lorenzo Romar
Head Coach, USA
QUOTE:

“This is special. It’s special for these guys to put their personal goals aside for the sake of the team and hopefully that will teach them what can happen when no one cares who gets the credit.

I’ve always felt like the USA possesses the most talent. I think we still play the best basketball in the world. When the guys get together and play together and it means something to play with passion then the USA is the best. If we go out and just go through the motions, we’re not the best.”


NAME: Spencer Hawes #15
Player, USA
QUOTE:

“I think it’s a compliment to our players along with our coaches. We only had two weeks to get together for this where most of these teams probably had multiple years so we had to really do that as a unit and I think we were able to do that very effectively and the results show that coming into fruition.

We came in here and we are expected to win, we’re expected to play big games, and that’s a lot of pressure that we didn’t put on ourselves, but we came in here and won the championship by 20 points and that feels good.

We didn’t want to be the team that messed up the one loss that the Under-18 team has had in the history of the tournament. We came through and we are happy with the results.”

Post-game
NAME: Taylor King #7
Player, USA
QUOTE:

“All we long we’ve stressed coming together as a team, to work hard, and that’s what we did. We just came together as a team and we realized that they couldn’t stop us down low so we gave it to Spencer [Hawes] and Mike [Beasley] and they took control and with the help of Johnny Flynn and his defense, and all the guys contributed as well, and we just went on a run and didn’t look back.”


NAME: Johnny Flynn #4
Player, USA
QUOTE:

A lot of people say that the USA can’t do this or the USA can’t do that, but we came out and proved that as a team, if we come together, we can overcome all obstacles.
A lot of people don’t like to take a step back to take play a role, but this team was different from a lot, we have a lot of people who are in top ten rankings all across the charts and we all filled our niches to get the job done.


NAME: Kyle Singler #8
Player, USA
QUOTE:

“This tournament ranks highly…it’s something for our country and something to be proud of.

I kind of felt like a little kid on Christmas morning I just couldn’t really wait for it I kind of got a little bit of sleep. Anytime you play a championship game you are going to be excited and maybe a little bit nervous, but I was just looking forward to the game.

NAME: Stanley Robinson #9
Player, USA
QUOTE:

I’m really excited, I feel great. This is pretty much the best because we won gold so other than that I can pretty much learn from it and say it was a team championship.