most important thing was we shared the ball, and we just believed in everybody and had confidence in the whole team.
“I did see improvement
from our last tournament. We started off strong and we came out quick,” Collier added.
The USA women's team
was likewise able to pick up where it had left off at the USA Basketball 3x3 National Championship Tournament. “I feel like we played
really well today," said Green. “We played two different kinds of teams, so we showed that we can win against a more physical team like Puerto Rico and a team that wasn't as tall as us like U.S. Virgin Islands. “I feel like we are better
The USA 3x3 U18 World Championship Team members took time out from training to tour Washington, D.C. The U.S. team trained in the Washington, D.C., area, then went on to compete and win the 2013 FIBA Americas 3x3 U18 Championship before traveling to Indonesia for the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championship.
than we were in Colorado Springs because we kind of already know what each other's strengths are, so it made it a lot easier to play together,” Green continued. “We are really excited for this
tournament to be the opening for us headed to Indonesia,” Green said. “We want to come out on top and with the win, so we can go into Indonesia confi- dent and knowing we are a strong team.”
Day Two - September 1 The USA Men’s and Women’s 3x3
U18 National Teams successfully concluded their march to claim titles at the FIBA Americas 3x3 U18 Championships. The USA men’s squad capped
preliminary play with a hard-fought 21-19 victory over Canada, then posted a 21-14 decision against Puerto Rico to advance to the semifinals as the No. 1 seed.
Dispatching of Belize 21-16 in the
semifinals, the U.S. men downed Puerto Rico 21-17 in the championship game. Making their golden accomplish-
ment even more impressive was the fact that the USA men were down to three players for all of the second day after losing Collier, who rolled his left ankle in the first day.
106 The USA women’s squad closed out
preliminary play with a dominating 21-4 victory over Canada. Also advancing as the No. 1 seed, the U.S. faced No. 4 seed U.S. Virgin Islands in the semifinals and earned its championship game berth with a one-sided 21-7 victory. Meeting Canada again in the title
game, this time the game was closer, but the United States again prevailed, earn- ing the championship with a 17-15 win. “I couldn’t be more proud of both
of these teams for winning gold this weekend,” said Johnson. “It was such a good decision to incorporate our training camp in with the inaugural FIBA Americas 3x3 U18 Championship. “Not only did the teams play well,
we got great exposure as we continue to grow 3x3, especially here in our country.” “This really helped us get ready for
the (FIBA U18 3x3) World Championship,” said Austin, who won a silver at the 2012 FIBA U18 3x3 World Championship. “If we play like we did this weekend, I think we could win it all. I think we are going to be really good. We have a cou- ple bigs in the post with Cliff (Alexander) and DeMonte (Flannigan). They’re versatile, they can shoot it, but they can also play defense. Then with me
and Dom, I think our team is really good.
“It was tough playing with just three
(players) because the other teams were good,” added Austin about the second day of games. “Canada gave us a run and Puerto Rico played us tough. It was tough because we didn’t have any subs and we didn’t get a timeout until the last game, but it was really great to win the gold medal.” “It was great to get out here and
play against other countries,” stated Turner, who won gold last summer as a member of the 2012 USA 3x3 U18 World Championship Team. “We got a chance to see how they play. Some of the games were more difficult than others, so I think we know what to expect when we get to Indonesia. I think this was good training for us. Our chemistry improved from Colorado Springs. We’re playing better together, learning our plays and starting to know what each other is going to do next. “We kind of picked it up towards the
end (against Canada in the gold medal game),” she added. “We knew Canada would come out strong because it was the championship game, but we just knew what we had to do and went out there and did it.”
USA Basketball News
Travis Johnson/USA Basketball
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