2018 Under-17 World Cup: Day Five Recap
- Jul 7, 2018
- 2 min read
The race for this year's Under-17 World Cup title started to heat up, as the competition reached its quarter-final stage, while the classification round for the teams already out of contention also began in Argentina.
Championship Route
Playing the stronger offence, Canada stayed in control of the game despite their lead under constant threat from Australia. The Boomers managed to stay in contention behind 20 points from Luke Travers and 12 points and 20 rebounds from Luke Jackson. Australia tried to snatch victory right at the end, but vital plays from Keeshawn Barthelemey helped to see out the slender win for Canada.
A start to the game that saw Montenegro lead Puerto Rico by nine gave way to a second quarter with five lead changes and a blowout third quarter where the central americans started to run away with it, leading by as much as nineteen points. Tory San Antonio had 30 points for Puerto Rico, whose run in the competition continues into the semi-finals after beating Montenegro by fifteen points.
Turkey closed the gap in the third quarter after trailing France by double-digits, who responded with smart offence and high-percentage play from close range, building a more and more insurmountable lead. Malcolm Cazalon had a game-high 30 points for France, as they move on to the semi-finals after the 86-70 win over Turkey.
A rampant game from the USA against Croatia saw them make over two-thirds of all their field goal attempts and record 100 points in the paint, while on defence making 21 steals and 57 total rebounds. Trailing 62-22 at half time, Croatia were consigned to their fate early on, as USA went on to end their dominant performance in front by 126 to 52.
Classification Route
Aleksej Pokusevski had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Serbia as they limited New Zealand’s chances in open play on their way to a 78-51 victory. Mali then dominated the Philippines with with swift all-around play and another round of great performances from Siriman Kanoute and Oumar Ballo, winning by 36 points.
A terrific show on offence saw Argentina drop 13 three-pointers and two-thirds of all their field goal attempts against China. Juan Francisco Fernandez and Jiao Boqiao were the the standouts for their respective teams, both recording double-doubles, but Argentina got the win by 95 points to 69.
Egypt scored 13 points in the last six minutes of their game against the Dominican Republic, taking them from nine down to within one. After adding one more for the Dominicans from the foul line, David Jones then blocked a layup attempt from Momen Hassan on the other end. It wasn’t until Abdelrahman Mahmoud’s final three-point attempt missed did they breathe a big sigh of relief - they emerged the winners by 67 points to 65.
At the end of the day, the following fixtures were set:
Semi Finals
Puerto Rico vs France
Canada vs USA
5th-8th Place Classification
Montenegro vs Turkey
Australia vs Croatia
9th-12th Place Classification
Mali vs Dominican Republic
Argentina vs Serbia
13th-16th Place Classification
China vs New Zealand
Philippines vs Egypt
These games will be played tomorrow (July 7th), until then more information can be found on the official website of the tournament.
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