Press Releases
Press Release Service
« Back to Latest News
CANADA BASKETBALL’S CADET MEN WIN BRONZE AND QUALIFY FOR 2010 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
MENDOZA, Argentina – Canada Basketball’s Cadet Men’s National Team won the bronze medal yesterday at the FIBA Americas U16 Championships, beating Venezuela 106-81 to qualify for the first ever FIBA U17 World Championships in Germany next summer.
“To qualify in this inaugural event speaks volumes about the depth of talent in our country,” said Wayne Parrish, CEO and Executive Director for Canada Basketball. “We worked closely with the athletes, their families and our provincial partners to provide this once in a lifetime opportunity for our young athletes to compete internationally. A big congratulations to Cadet Team for doing all of the hard work, to win the bronze and bring Canada to the 2010 Worlds.”
The Canadian team came out strong and played extremely well throughout the preliminary round, beating Mexico 90-44 and Bahamas 88-69. The final game of the first round was against host team Argentina. Canada fought a tough battle on the court, bringing the game to overtime, but Argentina pulled away with the win 87-81.
In the first medal round game, Canada played a dominant USA team that took the win 126-78. Host Argentina beat Venzuela 66-58 to determine the matches for the final day of competition. The gold medal game had Argentina playing against the Americans with Team USA winning easily 101-87.
“Right from the first day of training camp at the Air Canada Centre there was a real positive energy and chemistry amongst our Cadet athletes and staff, said Head Coach Roy Rana. “This incredible accomplishment for Canada was a true team effort and the results came together perfectly in our bronze medal victory against Venezuela.”
Team Canada was led by captain, point guard, Kevin Pangos from Holland Landing, ON. In the bronze medal match he led all scorers with 28 points, while teammate Jonathan Alexander-Guillaume from Toronto, ON was strong on both ends of the court, racking up a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards.
- more -
On the tournament leaderboard, 6’6” guard, Negus Webster-Chan led all players in three-pointers, shooting 47.1 percent. Pangos led in free-throw shooting percentage with 89.7, and was second in assists (19), steals (16) and three-pointers made (10). Of the top five players in the tournament with the highest three point average, four were Canadian. After Webster-Chan, Alexander-Guillaume and Pangos were tied for third averaging 45.5 percent, and Nik Stauskas from Mississauga, ON was in fifth place averaging 40 percent overall.
Captain Pangos was excited about the Cadet team’s first international event. “It was a great learning experience for us. The tournament was an opportunity to test our skills against some of the best talent in the world. And now we have a chance to take our game to the next level.”
Coach Rana could not agree more. “This is a very special group of athletes who have established themselves as one of the best in the Americas. We are excited about our opportunity to represent Canada in next summer’s U17 World Championships and look forward to hearing great things from these athletes moving forward in there national team careers. Canadians should be very proud of the way these young kids have represented our country.”
For complete box scores and standings from the FIBA Americas U16 Championships visit www.fibaamericas.com.
- 30 –
Canada Basketball (www.basketball.ca) is a private, not-for-profit corporation that is committed to the growth of the sport in Canada. Canada Basketball is focused on the development and preparation of Canada’s national teams for the Olympic, Pan American and FISU Games as well as the FIBA World Championships. The aspiration of Canada Basketball is to instill the pride, commitment, passion and respect that Canadians personify into the development of basketball across the country and internationally.
For more information please contact:
Tanya Phillipps
Manager, Marketing & Communications
Canada Basketball
Tel: 416.614.8037 x219
Fax: 416.614.9570
e-mail: tphillipps@basketball.ca
Website: www.basketball.ca
Andrew Cook
Manager, Men’s Elite Performance
Canada Basketball
Tel: 416.614.8037 x210
Fax: 416.614.9570
e-mail: acook@basketball.ca
Website: www.basketball.ca
SIRC is pleased to provide the distribution of announcements however is not responsible for their respective content and translation. Please contact the person identified in each message for more information about the announcement.
Contact Us
