First Men's Youth Olympic Games -- 2010

2010 USA Men's Youth Olympic Games Team 2010 USA RESULTS (5-2) USA 23 Turkey 17 USA 27 Israel 20 USA 31 Singapore 21 USA 32 C. African Rep. 28 USA 28 Spain 18 Serbia 32 USA (1 OT) 29 Greece 34 USA 25 2010 MEN'S YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES FINAL STANDINGS 1. Serbia (7-0) 11. Iran (4-3) 2. Croatia (6-1) 12. Turkey (3-4) 3. Greece (5-2) 13. Egypt (4-3) 4. USA (5-2) 14. New Zealand (3-4) 5. Lithuania (4-3) 15. C. African Rep. (3-4) 6. Israel (3-4) 16. Virgin Islands (2-5) 7. Argentina (5-2) 17. Singapore (3-4) 8. Spain (3-4) 18. India (2-5) 9. Philippines (4-3) 19. South Africa (1-6) 10. Puerto Rico (3-4) 20. Panama (0-7)

Opening play in Singapore at *scape Youth Space, site of the basketball competitions at the first-ever Youth Olympic Games, the U.S. men earned a 23-17 victory over Turkey in their first game of the men’s preliminary round schedule. Angelo Chol led the team with 10 points, seven rebounds and a block, while Brandan Kearney added three assists and Sterling Gibbs had two steals.

It was Gibbs who then scored 12 points and matched Chol’s team-high six rebounds in the 27-20 U.S. win over Turkey to put the men at 2-0 in their preliminary round group.

Gibbs led the team again in its third straight win, a 31-21 victory over host nation Singapore, with 14 points and nine rebounds. Chol provided three blocks to help put the U.S. at 3-0 in preliminary round play.

The U.S. had its toughest test of the preliminary round in its final Group C game against the Central African Republic. Chol’s impressive 14-point, 15-rebound performance helped the U.S. overcome a halftime deficit and finish preliminary round play undefeated at 4-0.

As the first-place team coming out of Group C, the U.S. men drew international rival Spain, the second-place finisher to Croatia in Group D, as their opponent in the medal quarterfinal round.

The U.S. men got to 5-0 in the tournament and advanced to the medal semifinal round with a 28-18 win over Spain in the medal quarterfinals. Gibbs again led the U.S. in scoring with 12 points, while the 6-9 Chol grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and added two blocked shots.

That set up a medal semifinal matchup between the U.S. and Serbia for a spot in the gold medal game. The first-place team out of preliminary round Group A, Serbia would eventually move on to play for the gold, narrowly edging the U.S., 34-29, in overtime.

Despite the game being tied at 15 at halftime and at 27 after the two, five-minute regulation halves, the U.S. was unable to mount an offensive push in the extra period despite Gibbs’ team-high 13 points and Chol’s nine rebounds.

The U.S. was unable to rebound from the overtime loss to eventual gold-medalist Serbia, dropping the bronze medal game to Greece, 34-25, despite a 15-point effort from Gibbs.

In its fourth-place finish, the U.S. men finished the first-ever Youth Olympic Games with a +3.3 point margin in scoring (27.9 to 24.6) and a +2.9 margin in rebounding (16.7 to 13.9).

Overall, Gibbs led the team with 11.6 ppg., while Chol averaged 7.4 ppg. and 8.1 rpg. Brandan Kearney averaged 6.9 ppg., while K.C. Caudill averaged 2.0 ppg.