AUCKLAND (FIBA U19 World Championship) - The USA have faced a tough physical challenge in the first half from France but emerged comfortable 16-point winners in the first game of day two at the FIBA U19 World Championship.

The USA burst out of the blocks with nine points in the first 1:45, with only a spectacular left hand shot from Andrew Albicy getting France on the scoreboard and silencing the USA supporters in the crowd.

Defence took over for the rest of the half, with USA leading 19-10 after the first ten minutes and 35-20 at half time. The defensive athleticism of both teams made scoring difficult, with the US shooting at 41% for the half, and France just 29%.

When the French intensity dropped in the third quarter, the Americans treated the crowd to some spectacular offence, adding 24 for the period. Guard Seth Curry led a very balanced scoring attack with 12 points for the game on 4/7 three point shooting. Gordon Hayward (11 points) and Ashton Gibbs (10) were also in double figures.

France also broke the shackles offensively, adding 17 points in the third quarter and 18 in the last. Andrew Albicy was clearly best for Les Bleus with 15 points – including 12 in the first half - 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Alexis Tanghe top scored with 16 points.

The USA are already assured of moving to the second, and face Egypt at 11:00am Saturday in their final pool game. France play Iran at 5:00pm, and must win to ensure progress to the next stage.


They said :

Jamie Dixon – USA coach :

“It was a pretty decisive win, but I thought we could have played better.

They’re good, they’re athletic and we couldn’t dominate them inside. We needed to shoot the ball well and we didn’t, but I thought our defence was pretty good, and that was probably the final margin.

It was one of those games where they zoned us, we took care of the ball pretty well. But considering we didn’t shoot the ball well we got a pretty good margin of victory.”

Ashton Gibbs – USA point guard :

“They brought their defensive intensity, but we were able to stand that and we got the win.

They’re a tough team, so we wanted to make a statement quick, make a statement early and bring our intensity. I think that’s what we did now we just got to do it the whole game.

(On guarding Andrew Albicy) It was tough, he’s real quick. He reminds me of a Tony Parker type player. He’s a tough player to stay in front of, but I though we slowed him down a little bit in the second half.”
FIBA