“I think the chemistry
really just built up towards the second half. I knew our guards we’re going to push it so I basically just had to run the floor and they put me in the best position to score,” said Goodwin. “I’ve never had a
game like that before, and I didn’t realize (perfect shooting) it. I was just playing basketball, I don’t know, I was just at the right place at the right time.” Never trailing in the contest,
the USA showed it was stronger, deeper and more talented than the undermanned U.S. Virgin Islands squad.
Pressing from the opening tip,
Julius Randle, who finished the FIBA Americas U18 Championship as the USA’s leader for points (14.2 ppg.) and rebounds (6.6 rpg), posted a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds in the gold medal game win.
USA 105,
U.S. Virgin Islands 42 Behind Goodwin’s 30 points that
came on flawless 12-of-12 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 marksmanship from the foul line, the USA opened prelimi- nary play with a high scoring, 105-42 pounding of U.S. Virgin Islands. “I thought we got much better in the
second half. I thought we took advantage of our frontcourt players,” said Donovan. “In the first half we turned it over a little too much, but we did a great job getting to the free throw line, we went to the free throw line 33 times in the first half. The problem was we only converted 16-of-33, we left a lot of points out there. I thought as the game started to unfold we did a better job of recognizing that we had a huge advantage up front, and I thought Shaq Goodwin, Jarnell Stokes, Montrezl (Harrell), all those guys did a nice job finishing around the basket.” Goodwin’s 30-point outpouring was
the third highest single game scoring effort in USA Basketball U18 Championship history. His 12-12 shooting set a U.S. mark for highest field goal percentage in a U18 game.
88
the U.S. jumped out to a 6-0 lead with all of its points coming from the charity line. Just inside the halfway point of the opening quarter, following a Sulaimon 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Purvis, the Americans were firmly in control, owning a 15-3 lead.
Sinking just 10 of its 23 free
throw attempts in the game's first 10 minutes, Layman scored off an offensive rebound just before the horn for the quarter sounded, and the U.S. led 26-13. U.S. Virgin Islands cut the U.S.
advantage to 28-19 to start the second quarter, but Randle scored four consecu- tive points and the USA closed out the first half comfortably ahead 48-24. Outscoring U.S. Virgin Islands 28-8
in the third stanza, the USA closed the contest strong, outscoring the islanders 20-10 to take the 105-42 decision. “We’ve been looking forward to this
day for a long time. We’ve been working out really hard. We started a little bit slow, but once we got into the groove we just really started having fun out there. We were executing all the coaches’ plans, and we had a lot and I thought we did really well,” stated Sulaimon. Further aiding the USA cause was
Stokes who finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Randle finished with 12 points and eight boards, and Sulaimon tossed in 12 points. The USA dominated the glass 64-30,
and Layman led the rebounding effort with 10. Britt and Robinson shared high
assist honors, as each handed out five. The Americans shot just 32-56 from
the foul line, but U.S. Virgin Islands, which managed to shoot just 15.5 percent from the field (11-71 FGs), made 16 fewer free throws, shooting 16-of-24.
USA 110, Mexico 59 Led by Layman’s game-high 18
points, the USA won its second game in as many days, routing Mexico 110-59. “I thought we came with really good
energy. I though we played better today than we did yesterday, which we’re trying to do, play better and better as we go along,” said Donovan. “I thought we were really unselfish. We kept our turnovers down a little bit better than what we did yesterday, and I thought we were well balanced. “Jake Layman gave us really good
3-point shooting and obviously our front- court did a great job on the glass. When we subbed everybody today contributed
USA 105, U.S. Virgin Islands 42 June 16, 2012
ISV Hart Gray
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 30 3-16 5- 7 2 14 12 9 0- 1 2- 2 1 04 2
Santos Jr. 9 0- 1 0- 0 0 05 0 Cuencas 26 0- 6 4- 4 3 41 4 Swanston 33 4-19 1- 1 2 03 11 Jones
Hodge Harris
6 1- 3 0- 0 0 01 3 10 2- 6 0- 2 3 03 4 14 0- 7 0- 0 0 01 0
Francis 13 0- 2 0- 0 1 12 0 Phillip Jr. 21 1- 6 2- 6 3 02 4 Der-Weer 15 0- 1 2- 2 3 15 2 Bazil
14 0- 3 0- 0 2 05 0
Totals 200 11-71 16-24 30 7 36 42 USA
Randle Stokes Britt
Smart Grant
MIN FG FT R A PF PTS 15 2- 5 8-11 8 20 12 21 7- 9 5- 8 8 30 19 25 1- 5 0- 0 1 54 3 15 0- 1 3- 8 2 31 3 18 0- 4 4- 6 5 01 4
Sulaimon 24 5- 8 1- 3 5 30 12 Purvis
17 2- 5 2- 2 3 35 6
Robinson 17 0- 1 2- 4 3 51 2 Layman 14 3- 5 0- 1 10 11 7 Harrell
Goodwin 19 12-12 6- 6 6 04 30 Dekker
15 3- 4 1- 7 8 13 7 DNP-Injured
Totals 200 35-59 32-56 64 26 20 105
U.S. Virgin Islands 13 11 8 10 -- 42 USA
26 22 28 29 -- 105
3-PT FGs-U.S. Virgin Islands (4-32): Swanston 2-9, Hart 1-6, Jones 1-1, Harris 0-7, Cuencas 0-6, Gray 0-1, Hodge 0-1, Der-Weer 0-1; USA (3-11): Britt 1- 4, Sulaimon 1-3, Layman 1-3, Smart 0-1; TO-U.S. Virgin Islands 16, USA 21; BLKS-U.S. Virgin Islands 3, USA 5; STLS-U.S. Virgin Islands 10, USA 5.
USA Basketball News
Craig Miller/USA Basketball
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