POSTED: Saturday June 20th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

USA Basketball Men's U16 National Team Advances To Medal Semifinals With 126-73 Offensive Barrage Against Puerto Rico

USA guard Quinn Cook in just 21 minutes of action compiled an impressive stat line, record nine points, eight assists, and five rebounds as the USA sailed past Puerto Rico 126-73 Friday night.

MENDOZA, Argentina (June 19, 2009) —  Brad Beal (Chaminade College Prep H.S. / St. Louis, Mo.) poured in 18 points to lead six U.S. players in double digits as the 2009 USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team (3-0) dominated Puerto Rico (1-2) 126-73 at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship on Friday evening in Mendoza, Argentina. The USA advances to the June 20 medal semifinals as the No. 1 seed from Group A after finishing preliminary play with a perfect 3-0 slate.

Every U.S. player contributed points in the high-scoring game, including 10 who posted eight or more. In addition to Beal, Sterling Gibbs (Seton Hall Prep / Scotch Plains, N.J.) and Adonis Thomas (Melrose H.S. / Cordova, Tenn.) were credited with 17 points apiece; James McAdoo (Norfolk Christian H.S. / Norfolk, Va.) had 15 points, his third 15-point performance in the tournament; André Drummond (Capitol Preparatory Magnet School / Middletown, Conn.) and Chasson Randle (Rock Island H.S. / Rock Island, Ill.) each contributed 10; Quinn Cook (DeMatha H.S. / Bowie, Md.) finished with nine to go with his eight assists; while Brandan Kearney (Southeastern H.S. / Detroit, Mich.), Johnny O’Bryant (Eastside H.S. / Cleveland, Miss.) and Tony Parker (Miller Grove H.S. / Lithonia, Ga.) chipped in eight each.

In today’s other games, Venezuela (2-1) defeated Brazil (0-3) 81-58, Mexico (1-2) earned its first win after surpassing the Bahamas (0-3) 84-73 in overtime, while Argentina (3-0) clipped Canada (2-1) 87-81 in overtime.

In addition to the United States, also advancing to the June 20 medal semifinals were: Argentina, Canada and Venezuela. As the top-ranked team advancing from Group A, the U.S. will face Canada, Group B’s second place team (6:00 p.m. EDT); while Argentina and Venezuela will meet up in the other semifinal (8:00 p.m. EDT). The semifinal winners automatically qualify for the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship will vie for gold on June 21 (5:00 p.m. EDT), while the semifinal losers will battle at 3:00 p.m. EDT for the bronze medal and the third spot allocated to FIBA Americas for the ‘10 U17 Worlds.

“Coming in we told the kids that Puerto Rico was going to be ready for us because they had to win the game tonight to get into the top two and advance,” said USA head coach Don Showalter, head coach of Mid-Prairie High School (Iowa). “They hit five out of their first seven threes. After that, it was pretty much our game. I loved our defensive pressure. We played together really well as a team. We had 22 assists. Our team really has found each other on the court. You can tell they really enjoy playing with each other, making the right passes. Obviously we need to step that up tomorrow night, but that was a great way to end up pool play.”

Puerto Rico scored first with a three, but it didn’t take long for the U.S. to take the lead for good. Trailing 3-2, McAdoo stole the ball on Puerto Rico’s second possession, the U.S. pushed it up the court and McAdoo finished with a layin to put the United States in the lead for good, 4-3, at 8:46. However, Puerto Rico netted five 3-pointers in the first quarter to keep the U.S. close and at the end of the first period it was a five-point, 26-21, game.

“Coach said they’re a real scrappy team,” said Beal. “They like to get after it and play hard. We had to stick to the game plan, which is: stay calm, make sure we check all of our passes and be real consistent on the offensive end and defensive end.”

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Keywords · USA Basketball · Brad Beal · FIBA Americas U16 Championship

Name: Craig Miller
Organization: USA Basketball
Email:
Phone: +1.(719) 590-4800
URL: http://www.usabasketball.com/

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