USA Downs Puerto Rico At U19 World Championship
Butler players Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack combined for 18
points and 11 rebounds and helped the USA to an 82-61 victory over
Puerto Rico in the second round of the FIBA U19 World Championship
in Auckland, New Zealand. The win assured the unbeaten U.S.
squad of the No. 1 seed for Group E in the medal round
quarterfinals.
Hayward has 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists, three steals
and three blocked shots in 18 minutes of action. He was one
of two U.S. players to score in double-figures in the
victory. Mack chipped in with seven points, four rebounds,
one assist and two steals in 18 minutes.
The U.S. broke an 11-11 tie with a 9-2 scoring run in the final
2:31 of the first quarter and then took command by scoring the
first 15 points of the second period. Puerto Rico never
recovered. Hounded by an aggressive U.S. defense, Puerto Rico
managed just two field goals in the final 13 minutes of the first
half and trailed, 43-19, at halftime.
“The key of team defense is to crowd them on the three-point
line,” said Hayward after the game.
“They’re a good three-point shooting team, so we wanted
to make them put it on the floor and drive to the lane and let our
big guys block some shots.”
The U.S., paced by Hayward, had eight blocked shots in the game,
while limiting Puerto Rico to 33% shooting. Puerto
Rico’s high-scoring guard Mike Rosario, who scored 54 points
one game earlier, finished with just 11 points on four of 15
shooting.
Howard Thompkins of Georgia led the U.S. with 14 points and nine
rebounds.
The U.S. will close out second round play against European power
Lithuania (3-2) on Wednesday, July 8, at 7:30 p.m. (3:30 a.m. on in
the U.S.). The top four teams from Group E and from Group F
will advance to medal round play, which begins on Friday, July
10.
