(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Stars and Stripes team post easy win over Serbia in the semis at Hamdan Sports Complex Jayson Tatum (10) of the United States shoots against Serbia during the semi-final match of the Fiba U-17 World Championship on Friday. — Supplied photo
The USA are just one more victory away from claiming the Fiba U-17 Championship crown for a third successive time after beating Serbia 89-68 in the first of Friday’s two semi-finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex.
The Stars and Stripes once again demonstrated their greater squad depth with every individual contributing to a collective offensive effort that ultimately outscored Serbia’s more potent star players.
Indeed the Serbians had three of the game’s four highest scorers in point guard Stefan Peno (18) captain Vojislav Stojanovic (18) and topscorer Nikola Rakicevic (19) but the States equally had four players with double-digit tallies amid 11 of 12 scorers overall.
“Our bench has really been coming in for us” said US skipper Malik Newman who led by example with 15.
“We have 12 elite players. All of those guys have a chance to be starters on this team so for them to come off the bench and play like they are is motivating.”
America now progress to face the winner of the second last-four battle between Australia and Spain on Saturday with the loser of that tie tackling Serbia in the bronze medal match.
Meanwhile departing Fiba president Yvan Mainini believes the success of this tournament — particularly from a TV presentation and production perspective — is proof positive that the UAE can host more senior-level competitions in the years to come.
“I’m sure that the UAEBA will be a good organisation for the future of Fiba” the former French Basketball Federation chief said.
“When I saw a venue like this (the Hamdan Sports Complex) I thought to myself we could maybe do something more higher level than we have at the moment with the U17 boys.
“The level of the teams here is very good but — if there were to be a more senior event here in the future — it would be very good. You have my support and I will inform everybody of that back at Fiba HQ. We have started off here on a good footing which is very important.”
Mainini also hinted the UAE could host a 32-strong Fiba World Cup in conjunction with another GCC nation adding: “Everything is possible for the future. It’s very difficult for the UAE to organise alone. It’s maybe possible for you to organise with some other country from the Gulf in order to have greater organisation because there are now 32 teams in the final round of the World Cup. It’s possibly too big for a country like the UAE but you can maybe do something together. It would be very interesting to have a good network around Dubai to be able to have something like this.”
Ismail Al Qarqawi the president of the UAE Basketball Association (UAEBA) added: “Yvan’s presence here in the UAE means a lot to the UAEBA as it shows he supports basketball anywhere in the world.
“We hope that this won’t be the last time we stage this kind of international basketball competition and it is the start of things to come here in the UAE.
“We’ll do our very best to maintain our good relationship with FIBA and participate in all activities associated with them. We’re ready to benefit from all activities involving international basketball.”
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