Canada Basketball Claims Silver at the FIBA U16’s in Argentina

Canada Basketball Claims Silver at the FIBA U16’s in Argentina

Canada Basketball’s U16 Team put on one heck of a show down in Argentina this past week for the FIBA America’s, and were rewarded a silver medal for their efforts after falling 77-60 to gold medalist Team USA.

Despite the loss, the FIBA U16 America’s were a huge success for Canada Basketball, who wound up with their highest placing in the tournaments four-year history.

Canada not only won a silver though, they dominated on their way to the finals, winning all four of their first games by double digits before colliding with the US in the Gold medal game.

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The Americans were not immune to Canada’s length and aggressive rebounding either, as Canada held a 20 point lead at one point in the second quarter, and led 37-27 at the half, before the Americans started to rally back in the third.

“We got off to a tremendous start against the US by defending and rebounding. We played with so much energy and urgency in the first half. We felt that if we limited our turnovers and their seconnd chance opportunities we could compete with them,” said head coach David DeAveiro. “They come at you in waves with their pressure and size and it was something we needed to experience as a group.”

Point guard Jaelin Llewellyn pulled no punches when asked about his experience going up against the US, asserting what he and his teammates plan to accomplish moving forward. “I think we learned that the idea that USA is unbeatable is just a myth,” said Llewellyn. “We were right there the whole game and just a loss of concentration and focus at the end allowed them [Team USA] to slip away. It showed us that it could soon be Canada’s turn to be on top.”

USA head coach Don Showalter had high praises for the Canadian team while speaking with SLAM magazine, and was pleased to see his players respond to the challenge that Canada was giving them during the finals.

“We weren’t very aggressive on the boards. They pretty much dominated us on the boards in the first half,” said Showalter. “And when you play like that, your shooting percentage isn’t very good. You’re only getting one shot and they were making their shots that first quarter. It kind of woke our players up a little bit. As the game went on we showed what we’re really made of.

“I give Canada a lot of credit,” continued Showalter. “They had a great game plan. They weren’t going to let us get a lot of second shots. They were going to make us take shots that we really didn’t want to take.”

“I think we learned that the idea that USA is unbeatable is just a myth. We were right there the whole game and just a loss of concentration and focus at the end allowed them (team USA) to slip away. It showed us that it could soon be Canada’s turn to be on top.” – Jaelin Llewellyn, PG for U16 Canada

Mississauga native Rowan Barrett Jr. led all Canadians averaging 14.3 PPG, but it was Burlington native Simisola Shittu that arguably left the biggest impact on the floor for Canada during the tournament, averaging a double-double over five games with 13.8 PPG and 11.4 RPG.

Now with the FIBA America’s over, a lot of these kids will return to their respected clubs and AAU programs for the remainder of the summer until school starts up, occasionally meeting up for a few national team camps here and there.

With half of the kids on the roster representing the GTA, it’s safe to say that youth basketball in and around Toronto will be an interesting thing to monitor over the course of the next few summers.

I would recommend any hoops’ fan who is interested in the grassroots level of the game to check these kids out wherever they may be playing around the city, because according to what we just saw in Argentina, you are looking at one of the best groups of talent in the world.

Coach DeAveiro summed up his experience coaching Canada’s next generation of elite players during this tournament.

“We will continue to work with our athletes as we prepare for the World Championships next summer,” said DeAveiro. “It was an amazing group to work with and I know the disappointment we all shared after the gold medal game. We will all work hard over the next year and hope to be in the same position a year from now, playing in the gold medal game.”

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