Basketball scores from 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship in Auckland

The USA, Croatia, Spain and Puerto Rico claimed wins on the first session of basketball’s FIBA U19 World Championship in Auckland on Thursday.

Puerto Rico, the fourth qualifiers from FIBA Americas, caused the first minor upset of the tournament, defeating Lithuania, FIBA Europe runners-up, 80-73 in the second game at ASB Stadium.

Isaac Sosa and Kevin Young shared the game-high with 18 points, while Mike Rosario had 17 points as Puerto Rico used a 13-0 run to end the third quarter to surge past the Lithuanians.

After a slow start, the Americans powered away late in the first quarter to defeat Iran 106-55 at the North Shore Events Centre, while Croatia had too much height and too much firepower for Kazakhstan, winning 104-64 at ASB Stadium, in the tournament’s opening games. Spain kept a valiant Syria at bay 79-53 in the second game at NSEC.

The Americans trailed by two points after five minutes but turned it on late in the first period, out-scoring the Iranians 22-3 to take a 30-13 lead into the first break, a margin that only grew further.

USA had seven players score in double figures as head coach Jamie Dixon used his bench extensively in the second half. Tyshawn Taylor led the way with 13 points, while Seth Curry finished with 12 points.
“It was a good win for us, a good start for us. I think we did some things pretty well. We rebounded well, which is something that’s been a problem for us,” says head coach Jamie Dixon.

“I was impressed with the way Iran played. They battled all the way until the end and still made some big shots at the end. I think we’re going to play a lot of guys. We’re always going to use all 12 guys. Fatigue should not be a problem.”

At the ASB Stadium in Kohimarama Guard Toni Prostran scored a game-high 23 points and added six rebounds and six assists to lead Croatia in their 40-point win over Kazakhstan. Leon Radosevic added 17 points and Mario Delas 16 points.

Strong three-point shooting, including five-of-eight from leading scorer Jorge Santana and three-of-six from Daniel Perez, boosted Spain to a comfortable win over Syria. Santana finished with 16 points and Perez 11 points.

Spanish head coach Juan Antonio Orenga felt his team came away with the correct result considering it was their first game of the tournament.

“It was what I was expecting from this game. It was a game against a team that we didn’t know much about and it’s always difficult to play a game like that. We have five players that haven’t played in a national team before and with it being the first day and the crowd, there were some nerves.

“What I wanted from this game was to improve our defence and to use all our players and to make our first move in the tournament with a lot of confidence … the defence of the third quarter and the offence in several moments in the fourth quarter and the third quarter, and the beginning of the game was very good as well.”
Feature games of day one’s second session, include Australia-Canada at NSEC (5pm) and the New Zealand Junior Tall Blacks-Argentina at NSEC (8.30pm), following the opening ceremony at 7.30pm.


FIBA U19 World Championship

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Group A
Croatia 104 (Toni Prostran 23), Kazakhstan 74 (Alexandr Tyutyunik 21)
1Q: 26-16
HT: 58-38 (32-22)
3Q: 78-55 (20-17)
FT: 104-74 (26-19)

Greece 101 (Nikolaos Pappas 20) Angola 58 (Miguel Kiala 16)
1Q: 28-19
HT: 45-27 (17-8)
3Q: 77-51 (32-24)
FT: 101-58 (24-7)

Group B
USA 106 (Tyshawn Taylor 13) Iran 55 (Mohammad Hassanzadeh 17)
1Q: 30-13
HT: 55-27 (25-14)
3Q: 83-41 (28-14)
FT: 106-55 (23-14)

France 102 (Jonathan Bourhis 21) Egypt 56 (Adham Mohamed Elsayed 15)
1Q: 25-12
HT: 47-21 (22-9)
3Q: 71-34 (24-13)
FT: 102-56 (31-22)

Group C
Spain 79 (Jorge Santana 16) Syria 53 (Obida Al Samman 13)
1Q: 23-14
HT: 36-25 (13-11)
3Q: 62-38 (26-13)
FT: 79-53 (17-15)

Australia 88 (Cody Ellis 25, Brock Motum 22) Canada 77 (Mangisto Arop 27)
1Q: 24-18
HT: 42-34 (18-16)
3Q: 66-56 (24-22)
FT: 88-77 (22-21)

Group D
Puerto Rico 80 (Isaac Sosa 18, Kevin Young 18) Lithuania 73 (Dovydas Redikas 15, Vytenis Cizauskas 15)
1Q: 14-31
HT: 39-48 (25-17)
3Q: 60-62 (21-14)
FT: 80-73 (20-11)

Argentina 66 (Matias Nocedal 21, Luciano Gonzalez 12) New Zealand Junior Tall Blacks 64 (Brook Ruscoe 22, Rob Loe 15)
1Q: 16-17
HT: 35-31 (19-14)
3Q: 49-46 (14-15)
FT: 66-64 (17-18)