For the first time in the FIBA Americas U18 tournament, Team USA found itself behind after a quarter. As expected, the host nation, Chile, was more than pumped up to face one of the favorites. Like the Virgin Islands, Chile came out in zone defense but their zone was a lot more active.
Chile was up by 5 at the end of the 1st quarter and pushed it to 7 early in the 2nd but the US Team responded and won going away, 70-50.
Once again, Team USA was led by their defense. After defensive breakdowns early on, the Americans turned the intensity and played good solid defense without going for steals which was part of the problem early on. Coach Smart said “I thought our guys did a really good job in the second half of playing with more energy and more connectivity on the defensive end. We were able to force more stops.” Getting stops will be important as the US Team advances to the knock out stage. By far this was the least amount of forced turnovers (11) and fast break points scored (26) by Team USA.
University of Maryland recruit, Kevin Huerta, let Team USA in scoring with 14 points. His four 3 pointers in the second quarter helped Team USA start their run that would ultimately doom the host team. Matt Coleman III chipped in with 10 points and 6 assists while Markelle Fultz (University of Washington commit) had a good all around game with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocked shots.
Up next for Team USA is Brazil, who is coming off a 74-58 loss to Canada.
Results from Day 3:
USA 70 Chile 50
Canada 74 Brazil 58
Puerto Rico 85 Virgin Islands 61
Argentina 79 Dominican Republic 75
Follow Marcus “Mook” Washington on Twitter: @mtcwithmook
