The United States capped a dominant five-game run Saturday at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Uruguay with a 94-48 win over Argentina in the gold medal game.
Joshua Jackson of
Consortium College Prep (Detroit) paced four Americans in double figures with 16 points as the USA pulled away in the second quarter by outscoring Argentina 28-7.
"I couldn't believe it," Jackson said of having the gold medal placed around his neck after the victory. "I still think I'm dreaming."
Malik Newman earned tournament MVP honors in Uruguay.
Photo courtesy of USA Basketball
(14 points, 6 rebounds),
Seventh Woods (12 points, 4 assists) and
Ivan Rabb (10 points, 11 rebounds) helped supplement the USA's balanced scoring attack against Argentina.
The United States also won gold at the event in 2009 and 2011 – beating Argentina in both finals. Under head coach Don Showalter, USA Basketball's U16 and U17 teams are 31-0 in international competition since 2009, winning all but two of those contests by 20 points or more.
The 2013 version was statistically the most dominant, averaging 106.8 points per game and winning five contests in South America by an average margin of 53.4 points per game.
Malik Newman of
Callaway (Jackson, Miss.) was named tournament most valuable player. The 6-foot-3 guard – MaxPreps.com's National Sophomore of the Year for the 2012-13 season – posted 16.2 points, 2.8 steals and 2.0 assists per game in Uruguay.
"It was a great honor. I didn't really think I was going to get it, but when they called my name it was all a blessing," Newman said. "I'm just glad my teammates believe in me and the coaches did also, and I'm just glad I had a great tournament with the USA team."
Diamond Stone, a 6-9, 250-pound post player from
Dominican (Whitefish Bay, Wis.), was the team's second leading scorer in the FIBA Americas U16 Championship at 13.6 points per game. Fellow 2015 star forward Rabb contributed 12.0 points and a team-leading 9.8 rebounds per game.
As the top qualifier in the Americas zone, the United States will join Argentina, Canada and Puerto Rico in next summer's FIBA U17 World Championship.
