San Antonio, Texas • June 26-30, 2010

Headed by University of Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel, the 2010 USA Men’s U18 National Team rolled through its first four days of competition in San Antonio, Texas, before pushing through a strong Brazilian pressure defense on the final night to claim the gold medal at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men. In addition to capturing the gold medal, the USA U18 men earned USA Basketball a berth to the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship.

The well-balanced team attack saw Austin Rivers finish as the tournament’s third-leading scorer (20.2 ppg.), while Quincy Miller was ninth (14.0 ppg.), Kyrie Irving ranked 11th (13.6 ppg.) and Jereme Richmond was 15th (10.8 ppg.) among the eight-team field. Further, Miller (9.2 rpg.) and Tony Mitchell (7.0 rpg.) ranked second and 10th, respectively, for rebounding.

The USA opened play on June 26 by dismantling the U.S. Virgin Islands 131-63. All 12 members of the team scored, led by Miller’s 15 points and a new USA U18 record 17 rebounds.

On June 27 against Mexico, the U.S. squad dominated the game for a 114-38 victory as seven players finished in double digits for scoring, led by 16 from Rivers.

Miller led all scorers with 22 points as the USA dispatched Argentina 88-67 in final preliminary round play on June 28.

Advancing to the June 29 semifinals against Canada, the USA men wasted no time proving that a close scrimmage between the two nations prior to the start of the tournament would not be repeated. The red, white and blue, which trailed for a total of 1:24 in its first four games, led wire-to-wire against Canada, ran out to a 22-2 start and never looked back en route to the 122-89 victory. Rivers, who hit his first nine 3-point attempts led the U.S. with a record 35 points after shooting 12-of-18 from the field and 9-of-12 from 3-point range.

In a game that went down to the wire, the USA U18 National Team fought back to defeat Brazil 81-78 and claim the FIBA Americas U18 Championship gold medal on June 30.

After going up 15-2 to open the game, the U.S. looked to be on target for another blowout. However, Brazil put on a full court press for much of the remainder of the half and went up 35-34 at the midway point. With 9:01 to play in the third quarter, the U.S. trailed 67-58, but stayed composed and fought back, going up 78-75 late in the fourth quarter. Brazil's Raul Nieto scored a three with 40 seconds remaining to knot the game at 78-all. Fifteen seconds later, Miller fired up a 3-pointer, which turned out to be the game-winner. The USA’s defense would not allow Brazil a good look at the basket, and the USA celebrated a gold medal victory.

Canada defeated Argentina 86-83 in overtime for the bronze medal as all of the top four finishers advanced to the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship.

2010 USA BASKETBALL MEN’S U18 NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER

2010 USA BASKETBALL MEN’S U18 NATIONAL TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS