Playing once again without arguably the top teenage basketball prospect in the world, the United States still flexed its muscle in a 95-66 semifinal victory over Spain at the FIBA U17 World Championship.
The USA will face Australia on Sunday in the gold medal game of the event, being played in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Justise Winslow
FIBA photo
, MaxPreps.com's top-ranked Class of 2013 prospect, did not play for the third time in the last four games for the United States. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound small forward is nursing a toe injury.
Dakari Johnson, a 6-10 center from
Montverde Academy (Fla.), also missed the contest against Spain.
St. John's (Houston) swingman
Justise Winslow picked up the slack, recording 17 points, 13 rebounds and three assists. The Class of 2014 standout has recorded three straight double-doubles in Lithuania.
Conner Frankamp (13 points),
Stanley Johnson (12 points, 6 rebounds),
Jahlil Okafor (12 points) and
Johnathan Williams III (10 points, 6 rebounds) also finished in double figures for the USA.
The United States trailed by five at the end of the first quarter but rallied to dominate the final 30 minutes. Highly-touted 6-10 Spanish center Ilimane Diop was virtually a non-factor, finishing with six points and two rebounds.
The gold medal game will be the third meeting between the United States and Australia in the last two weeks. The USA beat Australia in the final of the Gran Canaria International Invitational on June 25 (89-64) and in the opening game of the FIBA U17 World Championship on (89-67).
