| FINAL STANDINGS 1. United States 2. Argentina 3. Brazil 4. Venezuela 5. Dominican Republic 6. CANADA 7. Cuba 8. Mexico | CANADIANS Jesse Young (Peterborough, Ont.) Pasha Bains (Richmond, B.C.) Mike King (Guelph, Ont.) Jordan Sztern (Hampstead,) Steve Ross (Victoria, B.C.) Lloyd Crockett (Hamilton, Ont.) Phil Scherer (St. Albert, Alta.) Scott Fraser-Dauphine (West Vancouver, B.C.) Eugene Ambrose (Lasalle, Que.) Manix Auriantal (Montreal, Que.) Thomas Hope (Waterloo, Ont.) Marc-Antoine Horth (Sainte-Foy, Que.) Don Horwood – coach John Dore – assistant Don Fuller – therapist Jeff Erskine – manager |
| POOL B | VEN | BRZ | DOM | MEX | Record | ||
| Venezuela | —– | 78-73 | 96-89 | 88-58 | (3-0) | ||
| Brazil | 73-78 | —– | 79-64 | 94-61 | (2-1) | ||
| Dominican Republic | 89-96 | 64-79 | —– | 95-61 | (1-2) | ||
| Mexico | 58-88 | 61-94 | 61-95 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL A | USA | ARG | CAN | CUB | Record | ||
| United States | —– | 94-51 | 108-70 | 131-60 | (3-0) | ||
| Argentina | 51-94 | —– | 81-59 | 95-55 | (2-1) | ||
| Canada | 70-108 | 59-81 | —– | 115-105 | (1-2) | ||
| Cuba | 60-131 | 55-95 | 105-115 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| MEDALS POOL | USA | ARG | BRZ | VEN | Record | ||
| United States | —– | 94-51 | 95-73 | 103-79 | (3-0) | ||
| Argentina | 51-94 | —– | 82-61 | 75-65 | (2-1) | ||
| Venezuela | 79-103 | 65-75 | 78-73 | —– | (1-2) | ||
| Brazil | 73-95 | 61-82 | —– | 73-78 | (0-3) | ||
| 7th | Cuba 97 Mexico 79 | |
| 5th | Dominican Republic 107 Canada 99 | |
| Bronze | Brazil 74 Venezuela 70 | |
| Final | United States 91 Argentina 66 | |
In pool A play, Jesse Young scores 22 and grabs nine boards for Canada in a 108-70 loss to United States. Pasha Bains added 16, Mike King 7, Jordan Sztern 6, Steve Ross 4, Lloyd Crockett 4, Phil Scherer 4 and Scott Fraser-Dauphine 4. “Against the US, we are up four (32-28) with two a half minutes to go in the first half,” says coach Don Horwood. “We are playing great. We are executing well, we are getting the ball down inside. We are setting good screens. Then I think they got maybe four steals in a row. Two of them were layups and a couple of threes. We were down 12 at the half. The guys came out in the second half tentative. We didn’t identify our weaknesses until it was too late. Our major weaknesses were defensive. On defence, we were atrocious. You have to identify those weaknesses ahead of playing in that tournament. You have to get in tough games so you can see how guys are going to react in those situations.”
Canada’s inexperience was evident in an 81-59 loss to Argentina, which had played together in a tournament before the junior qualifiers. “It was evident from the way they played that they had been together longer,” said Horwood. Despite that, we are down 10 with 11 to go. We are in really good shape and things are going well and we had two or three mental lapses on defence, and bang, bang, bang, 16 points and it is basically over.”
Canada fails to qualify for medal round as only top four teams qualify for 1999 worlds in Portugal
Canada also failed to qualify for 1999 junior worlds. “I learned you can’t create miracles,” said coach Don Horwood. “There is so much you can do and that’s all you can do. I was disappointed that I couldn’t create a miracle because I thought going in, I might be able to. We didn’t have enough time together. It’s the same old song and dance. We had 10 days to put in our offences and defensive systems and press breaks and everything else, and try to get 12 guys from all over the country playing together as a team. When we left Hamilton, our attitude was fabulous. There is no question we picked the best kids. There is no question we had the best talent. Everything was great. …When we got there and experienced some of the things that John Dore and I knew ahead of time that we were going to experience, I think some of the players were literally traumatized. I personally believe we had enough talent to finish second. We were as big as every other team. We had good enough size to win. I think we had good enough players to win. We needed more time. There is probably not a coach that has coached a national team that hasn’t said the same thing. From a positive point of view, all of these kids got international exposure. None of them had any idea. They are all recruited by Division I schools and they all think that they are God’s answer to basketball. They go down there and find out that these guys don’t care if I’m recruited by Division I schools. They are coming out to play and they are in your face and they are playing.” Jesse Young was outstanding, Horwood added. “He was the one guy that not only did he rise to the occasion, but he grabbed it and moved up.”