The United States is one win away from its second gold medal in three years at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
Aaron Gordon of
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) scored a team-high 22 points to go along with eight rebounds as the USA crushed Canada 113-70 in semifinal play Friday night in Cancun, Mexico. Argentina will be the opponent in Saturday's final.
Aaron Gordon
USA Basketball/Steven Maikoski
"They (Canada) took third in the world last year at the U17s and we certainly didn't take them lightly," United States head coach Don Showalter said. "I thought our kids were really, really focused coming out of the locker room."
Showalter gave his team some extra motivation by showing them an Olympic gold medal prior to the contest.
"It's good that he brought that out, because it actually made it real, what we are playing for," Gordon said.
Other statistical standouts for the USA included
Jahlil Okafor (16 points, seven rebounds),
Theo Pinson (15 points, three steals),
Larry Austin Jr. (six points, seven assists) and
Tyus Jones (five points, eight assists. The United States is averaging 109.5 points through four games at the event, including a 102-81 win over Argentina on Wednesday.
"Argentina is going to be tough the second time around," Showalter said. "They run a system that's very good and we've seen them three times already over the last two years and now we'll play them twice this year, and now for the gold medal."
FIBAAmericas.com will stream the gold medal game live Saturday at 9 p.m. EDT. The United States beat Argentina 101-87 in the final of the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship.
