Dubai: American coach Donald Showalter complimented his bench strength for the USA’s unique hat-trick at the Fiba U-17 Basketball Championship that concluded at the Hamdan Sports Complex late on Saturday.
Going in as heavy favourites as the two-time defending champions, the USA was pushed to the limit before a close 99-97 win over Australia. Captain Malek Newman, later adjudged the Most Valuable Player, led from the front with 21 points, including three assists and a couple of triples.
Saturday’s win extended the USA’s undefeated run to 15 matches in this competition that had started off with the inaugural World Championship held in Hamburg, Germany in 2010.
Two years back it was the likes of Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow who were up against the likes of Dante Exum and Ben Simmons to give the USA a second successive title in Kaunas, Lithuania with a 95-62 win over Australia.
On Saturday, it was a match-up between the likes of Newman, Diamond Stone and Jayson Tatum up against Isaac Humphries, Dejan Vasiljevic and Harry Froling. But the Americans had too much of depth on the bench as they walked away with a third straight crown.
“Any of the other top five from other teams can match our starting five. It is the other seven players who come in later that makes the difference for us,” American coach Showalter said.
“We are aware of the strengths of these young players. When we come to a competition, we come with the best 12 and it is the seven who are on the bench that give us the advantage and we need to make use of that,” he added.
In Friday’s semi-finals, both finalists had had a tough time with Australia securing an amazing 80-74 over-time win over European champions Spain after the USA had battled past Serbia 89-68. “That semi-final must have taken a lot from the Australians, but it did not look like. They had so much of energy left in them that they did not give up till the end,” Showalter complimented.
“But then this is but natural. When you’re on top all teams give their best to try and beat you and tonight was no different. But we had an advantage on the bench and they did a great job to see us home,” he added.
“They [Australia] are getting better and all credit to our lads for not taking them lightly. They knew they would be tough and they played as per the plan.”
The American coach also praised the rising level of competition in this age group. “The teams are now more evenly balanced. A lot of the countries are paying more attention to the junior level development and this can be seen during a competition like this one. Tonight, we overcame a team that played really well,” Showalter said.
