FIRST FIBA 3x3 U18 (YOUTH) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MEN – 2011

Rimini, Italy • Sept. 9-11, 2011

Following the success of the 3x3 tournament at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games and FIBA’s (International Basketball Federation) announcement that it will conduct the FIBA 1st Invitational 3x3 Youth World Championship for players 18 years old and younger (born on or after Jan. 1, 1993) from Sept. 9-11 in Rimini, Italy, USA Basketball selected four players to comprise the USA Boys 3x3 Team for the event.

2011 USA 3x3 Youth World Championship Team 2011 USA RESULTS (7-5) USA 21 Guam 17 Bulgaria 11 USA 10 USA 19 Netherlands 11 USA 19 Russia 16 USA 17 Croatia 13 USA 16 S. Africa 11 Czech Rep. 18 USA 16 USA 15 Denmark 14 USA 21 Latvia 15 Estonia 21 USA 12 Russia 21 USA 51 Canada 20 USA 11 2011 FIBA 3x3 YOUTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL STANDINGS 1. New Zealand (11-1) 19. Egypt (6-6) 2. Bulgaria (10-2) 20. Ukraine (5-7) 3. Italy (11-1) 21. Romania (7-5) 4. Estonia (10-2) 22. Sri Lanka (4-8) 5. Russia (9-3) 23. Denmark (5-7) 6. Serbia (9-3) 24. Syria (5-7) 7. Canada (8-4) 25. England (5-7) 8. USA (7-5) 26. Croatia (5-7) 9. Tunisia (9-3) 27. Austria (5-7) 10. Latvia (8-4) 28. S. Africa (5-7) 11. Puerto Rico (7-5) 29. India (4-8) 12. Turkey (7-5) 30. Singapore (2-10) 13. Spain (8-4) 31. Japan (2-10) 14. Czech Republic (6-6) 32. Netherlands (1-11) 15. Greece (6-6) 33. Slovenia (4-6) 16. Jordan (4-8) 34. Guam (2-8) 17. Germany (8-4) 35. Nepal (1-9) 18. S. Korea (6-6) 36. Qatar (0-10)

The USA Basketball Boys 3x3 Team finished 7-5 and in eighth place after falling to Canada in its final game of the tournament.

Selected to represent the USA boys 3x3 squad were four members of 2011-12 USA Basketball Developmental National Team: Shaqquan Aaron (Taft H.S./Apple Valley, Calif.), Rondaé Jefferson (Chester H.S./Chester, Pa.), Malik Price-Martin (Monsignor Edward Pace H.S./ Miami, Fla.), and Jordan Swopshire (SportsQuest Academy, Richmond, Va./Ofallon, Mo.).

The USA boys and the USA girls 3x3 teams trained Sept. 3-5 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., then traveled to Rimini, Italy for the competition.

The 3x3 Youth World Championship boys competition featured 36 teams that were divided into four preliminary round groups consisting of nine teams each. The first four finishing teams from each group advanced to the eighth finals, with the winners advancing on to the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
 
Day 1 - Sept. 9
The USA Basketball Boys 3x3 Team finished 4-1 on day one of the inaugural FIBA 3x3 Youth World Championship today in Rimini, Italy, while the USA Boys 3x3 Team finished 4-1, rebounding for three wins after falling to Bulgaria in its second game of the day.

The U.S. boys opened with a 21-17 defeat of Guam as Price-Martin had eight points, and Jeffferson added seven.

Bulgaria edged the U.S. team in game two 11-10. Swopshire led the Americans with six points as Jefferson sat out much of the game against Bulgaria after tweaking a leg muscle.

The USA boys got back on the winning track and improved to 2-1 with a 19-11 win over Netherlands. Jefferson scored six points, Price-Martin added five and Aaron and Swopshire each tossed in four points.

In game four, the USA earned an impressive 19-16 victory over Russia behind eight points from Jefferson, six from Aaron, three points from Swopshire and two from Price-Martin.

The USA boys wrapped up the day with a 17-13 victory over Croatia. Jefferson scored eight points, while Swopshire and Price-Martin added five and four points, respectively.

“We did pretty good today,” remarked Jefferson after the completion of day one. “We knew that we could be a good team, but we played better than we expected. We stayed together and worked hard. Bulgaria wanted it more than we did, and they out-hustled us, but it felt great to come back and get three wins after that loss. We had our heads down for a bit, but we got together and picked each other up and responded.”

Day 2 - Sept. 10
After finishing pool play on Saturday afternoon with a 6-2 record, the USA Basketball Boys 3x3 Team were seeded as the No. 10 team heading into the medal Round of 16 and schedule to face No. 7 seeded team - Latvia. 
The USA topped Latvia 21-15 to advance to the medal quarterfinals against Estonia.

The USA opened day two with a 16-11 win over South Africa. Price-Martin led the way with nine points and Swopshire added six.

The USA's four-game winning streak came to an end versus the Czech Republic, 18-16. The Americans trailed 11-7 after the first half and could not recover. Jefferson led the USA offense with nine points.

The Americans closed out preliminary round play with a 15-14 win over Denmark. Jefferson finished with nine points, all from the foul line, and Swopshire and Price-Martin each contributed three points in the win.

The victory improved the USA's record to 6-2, and the squad earned a 10th seed into the medal Round of 16. Taking on Latvia, the USA recorded a 21-15 win thanks in part to 11 points from Jefferson, five from Price-Martin, four from Swopshire and one point from Aaron.

“The Czech Republic game was really tough,” Swopshire said. “Rondaé (Jefferson) is one of our best players, and he was fighting through some pain. We were playing strong, but he couldn’t play in the overtime period, and we just didn’t close out the game. That loss hurt a lot, and we all understood that we didn’t want to feel the misery of losing again. We used our anger to our advantage and responded well and played hard to close out the day with two wins.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” Swopshire said of playing Estonia in the medal round quarterfinals. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Day 3 - Sept. 11
The U.S. squad faced Estonia in a medal quarterfinal on Sept. 11 and held their opponent to just five points in the second period but could not recover from Estonia's 16 first-quarter points, losing 21-12 to end the USA's medal hopes. Jefferson led the red, white and blue with seven points.

That same story was repeated in the USA's 21-15 loss to Russia, with the USA unable to rebound after allowing 16 first-period points. Jefferson tallied six points against Russia, while Swopshire and Price-Martin added four points apiece.

The USA finished in 8th place after falling to Canada 20-11 in its final game of the 36-team tournament. Aaron led the USA effort with four points, followed by three points from Jefferson and Price-Martin, who suffered a shoulder injury late in the second period and did not return.

“We are all a little down,” stated  Jefferson after the disappointing final day. “We are sad to have had a chance to compete for something and then lose. It hurts to lose. All around today, the teams we played wanted it more than we did. They were more aggressive getting to lose balls and doing the little things. We tried to maintain control when we were down, but we struggled on defense.

“Out of all of the basketball I’ve played, this experience really taught me about never giving up. No matter what the score, any team can win and you can never let up or take a play off.”

“I enjoyed myself off the court, and I met a lot of new people from all over the world," Jefferson said. "As a team, we went to the beach and bike riding and we had a lot of fun together.

"This experience definitely helped me become a better player," Jefferson continued. "You have to play hard every possession. One mess up or mistake, and the other team can go up by two points, which is a big difference in tight games.”

2011 USA Boys 3x3 Youth World Championship Team Roster

2011 USA Boys 3x3 Youth World Championship Team Cumulative Statistics