The USA U16 team will play Argentina for the gold medal at the FIBA Americas championship Saturday in Uruguay.
The Americans beat Puerto Rico, 93-64, behind Ivan Rabb’s double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds and Diamond Stone’s 19 points. Josh Jackson added 13 points andThomas Bryant had 11.
“Rabb had a double-double and played with energy,” U.S. coach Don Showalter told SNY.tv. “Stone was a force inside. Our depth was a big factor in our win as our bench scored 36 points.
“We had 68 point sin the paint and scored 26 points from their 24 turnovers, which is a credit to our defense.”
The U.S. will face Argentina, which beat Canada, in Saturday’s championship.
“Our goal here, like I told the kids in the locker room, this group is really a good group, but the other two U16 teams have done one thing that this group hasn’t done and that’s win a gold medal,” Showalter said before the semifinal. “So, until this group does that, we can’t even compare to the other two previous U16 teams.”
Puerto Rico will play the loser for the bronze medal.
For more features on the USA U16 team, click here.
