2007 Bangkok, Thailand - Men - From Naismith to Nash

FINAL STANDINGS
1. Lithuania
2. Serbia
3. CANADA
4. Japan
5. Turkey
6. Russia
7. Germany
8. Korea
9. United States
10. Israel
11. Finland
12. Greece
13. Mexico
14. Ukraine
15. New Zealand
16. China
17. Australia
18. Czech Republic
19. Brazil
20. Chinese Taipei
21. Kazakhstan
22. Thailand
23. Angola
24. South Africa

CANADIANS
Ross Bekkering (Taber, Alta./Calgary)
Tristan Blackwood (Toronto, Ont./Central Connecticut St)
Theo Davis (Mississauga, Ont./Gonzaga)
Willie Galick (Nanaimo, B.C./Pepperdine)
Garry Gallimore (Ottawa, Ont./St. Francis Xavier)
Josh Gibson-Bascombe (Toronto, Ont./Ottawa)
Neil MacDonald (Sydney Mines, N.S./St. Francis Xavier)
Jamie McNeilly (Toronto, Ont./New Orleans)
J.P. Morin (Quebec City, Que./Laval)
Scott Morrison (Vancouver, B.C./Portland State)
Max Paulhus-Gosselin (Montreal, Que./Davidson)
Jevohn Shepherd (Toronto, Ont./Michigan)
Chris O’Rourke – coach
Darrell Glenn – assistant
Dave DeAveiro – assistant
Dave Ridgedale – manager
Geoff Mabey – therapist

POOL A	CAN	NZL	THI	Record
Canada	—–	74-62	96-43	(2-0)
New Zealand	62-74	—–	108-73	(1-1)
Thailand	43-96	73-108	—–	(0-2)

POOL B	USA	LIT	ANG	Record
United States	—–	63-97	84-26	(1-1)
Lithuania	97-63	—–	102-52	(2-0)
Angola	26-84	52-102	—–	(0-2)

POOL C	UKR	BRZ	JPN	Record
Ukraine	—–	78-59	53-63	(1-1)
Brazil	59-78	—–	73-74	(0-2)
Japan	63-53	74-73	—–	(2-0)

POOL D	SER	CZE	MEX	Record
Serbia	—–	91-55	95-75	(2-0)
Czech Republic	55-91	—–	54-57	(0-2)
Mexico	75-95	57-54	—–	(1-1)

POOL E	RUS	FIN	TPE	Record
Russia	—–	86-44	78-67	(2-0)
Finland	44-86	—–	81-62	(1-1)
Chinese Taipei	67-78	62-81	—–	(0-2)

POOL F	GRE	GER	KAZ	Record
Greece	—–	67-76	79-62	(1-1)
Germany	76-67	—–	89-49	(2-0)
Kazakhstan	61-79	49-89	—–	(0-2)

POOL G	TUR	CHN	RSA	Record
Turkey	—–	97-73	76-51	(2-0)
China	73-97	—–	72-53	(1-1)
South Africa	51-76	53-72	—–	(0-2)

POOL H	AUS	KOR	ISR
Australia	—–	79-81	62-74	(0-2)
South Korea	81-79	—–	72-78	(1-1)
Israel	74-62	78-72	—–	(2-0)

MEDALS POOL I	CAN	KOR	ISR	NZL	Record
Canada	—–	79-82	83-54	74-62	(2-1)
South Korea	82-79	—–	72-78	78-57	(2-1)
Israel	54-83	78-72	—–	90-87	(2-1)
New Zealand	62-74	57-78	87-90	—–	(0-3)

MEDALS POOL K	LIT	TUR	USA	CHN	Record
Lithuania	—–	89-100	97-63	125-63	(2-1)
Turkey	100-89	—–	65-87	97-73	(2-1)
United States	63-97	87-65	—–	88-51	(2-1)
China	63-125	73-97	51-88	—–	(0-3)

MEDALS POOL L	JPN	GER	GRE	UKR	Record
Japan	—–	75-67	81-65	63-53	(3-0)
Germany	67-75	—–	76-67	72-65	(2-1)
Greece	65-81	67-76	—–	79-77	(1-2)
Ukraine	53-63	65-72	77-79	—–	(0-3)

MEDALS POOL L	SER	RUS	FIN	MEX	Record
Serbia	—–	77-62	78-55	95-75	(3-0)
Russia	62-77	—–	86-44	92-54	(2-1)
Finland	55-78	44-86	—–	62-49	(1-2)
Mexico	75-95	54-92	49-62	—–	(0-3)

CONSOLATION M	BRZ	TPE	THA	RSA	Record
Brazil	—–	76-66	109-60	90-58	(3-0)
Chinese Taipei	66-76	—–	65-60	89-50	(2-1)
Thailand	60-109	60-65	—–	85-64	(1-2)
South Africa	58-90	50-89	64-85	—–	(0-3)

CONSOLATION N	AUS	CZE	KAZ	ANG	Record
Australia	—–	53-69	89-57	96-52	(2-1)
Czech Republic	69-53	—–	63-64	82-39	(2-1)
Kazakhstan	57-89	64-63	—–	67-54	(2-1)
Angola	52-96	39-82	54-67	—–	(0-3)

	QFs	Canada 68 Germany 63
	QFs	Japan 72 Korea 71
	QFs	Lithuania 79 Russia 70
	QFs	Serbia 90 Turkey 51
	21-24th	Kazakhstan 80 South Africa 59
	21-24th	Thailand 77 Angola 72
	17-20th	Australia 106 Chinese Taipei 66
	17-20th	Czech Republic 85 Brazil 73
	13-16th	Ukraine 104 New Zealand 86
	13-16th	Mexico 83 China 67
	9-12th	United States 59 Finland 44
	9-12th	Israel 74 Greece 59
	5-8th	Turkey 79 Korea 68
	5-8th	Russia 94 Germany 76
	Semi	Lithuania 79 Canada 64
	Semi	Serbia 76 Japan 62
	23rd	Angola 74 South Africa 46
	21st	Kazakhstan 88 Thailand 62
	19th	Brazil 80 Chinese Taipei 66
	17th	Australia 63 Czech Republic 54
	15th	New Zealand 117 China 88
	13th	Mexico 2 Ukraine 0
	11th	Finland 69 Greece 68
	9th	United States 63 Israel 57
	7th	Germany 72 Korea 60
	5th	Turkey 97 Russia 87
	Bronze	Canada 90 Japan 84
	Final	Lithuania 85 Serbia 66

In their opener, Canada defeated Thailand 96-43 after leading 26-9, 53-15 and 76-34 at the quarters. Coach Chris O’Rourke noted that “our bench got us going in the second game for sure and Jevohn was in the zone”.

Garry Gallimore paced Canada with 20 on 6-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 6 boards. Neil Macdonald added 18 on 8-11 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 9 boards. Jevohn Shepherd scored 13 on 6-9 from the floor and 4 boards. Theo Davis notched 10 on 5-9 from the floor and 12 boards. Jamie McNeilly added 10 on 5-8 from the floor and 5 steals. Tristan Blackwood scored 7 on 2-3 from the floor and 4 assists. Willie Galick added 6 on 2-7 from the floor and 5 boards. J.P. Morin notched 6 on 2-3 from the floor and 6 boards. Josh Gibson-Bascombe added 2, Max Paulhus-Gosselin 2 and Scott Morrison 2, while Ross Bekkering did not play. Canada shot 42-76 (.550) from the field, 39-64 (.600) from the floor, 3-12 (.250) from the arc and 9-14 (.640) from the line, while garnering 54 boards, including 26 on the offensive glass, 14 assists, 19 turnovers, 18 steals, 9 blocks and 9 fouls. Ratdech Kruatiwa paced Thailand with 17 on 6-14 from the floor and 5-12 from the arc. Jakkrapan Silapapipat added 10 on 4-9 from the floor. Chaiwat Kaedum added 6, Darunpong Apiromrilaichai 5, Padiphat Kanokamornsin 2, Darongpan Apiromuilaichai 2 and Chanachon Klahan 1, while Suttikiet Sinpitakkul, Pitcha Worapol, Panurat Chutsiriyingyong, Warawuth Wuthikornphan and Thongchai Thippayaprapai were scoreless. Thailand shot 16-51 (.310) from the field, 11-35 (.310) from the floor, 5-16 (.310) from the arc and 6-10 from the line, while garnering 16 boards, including 6 on the offensive glass, 6 assists, 27 turnovers, 12 steals, 2 blocks and 10 fouls. The game was basically over midway through the first quarter as Canada led by 17.

Canada improved to (2-0) by dumping New Zealand 74-62 after leading 21-13, 31-25 and 57-45 at the quarters. Jevohn Shepherd paced Canada with 28 points on 6-12 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 7 boards. Tristan Blackwood added 13 on 2-3 from the floor and 3-9 from the arc. Jamie McNeilly notched 12 on 2-9 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 5 boards. Josh Gibson-Bascombe added 8 on 2-2 from the arc and 4 boards. Neil Macdonald scored 6 on 2-9 from the floor and 6 boards. Garry Gallimore added 5 on 2-4 from the floor and 5 boards. Theo Davis added 2, while Willie Galick, Maxime Paulhus-Gosselin, J.P. Morin, Ross Bekkering and Scott Morrison were scoreless. Canada shot 27-77 (.350) from the field, 16-50 (.320) from the floor, 11-27 (.400) from the arc and 9-11 (.810) from the line, while garnering 45 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 11 assists, 18 turnovers, 14 steals, 2 blocks and 15 fouls. Leon Henry paced New Zealand with 13 on 2-5 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc and 3-4 from the line. Calum Donald Macleod added 11 on 5-6 from the floor and 8 boards. Everard Bartlett notched 11 on 2-8 from the arc. Christopher Daniel added 7, Jarrod Kenny 6, Mark Morrison 6, Zane Meehl 4, Thomas Abercrombie 2 and Christopher Reay 2, while Gerard Bowden, Ahmed Abdelhamid and Michael Townsend were scoreless. New Zealand shot 23-62 (.370) from the field, 17-36 (.470) from the floor, 6-26 (.230) from the arc and 10-16 (.620) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 20 turnovers, 9 steals, 20 blocks and 13 fouls. Jevohn Shepherd, a 6-5 forward, took the game over after the intermission, scoring 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, including 7 straight late in the third quarter as Canada took a 15-point lead and then coasted to the win. Shepherd went 7-10 from the floor in the second half including 3 3’s and finished with 7 rebounds in by far his best game internationally for Canada. “We were expecting a similar match-up to Australia, who we played in exhibition and it did turn out that way,” said forward Jevohn Shepherd. Canada got off to a slow start. “We struggled early and it took us a little while to wake up,” said coach Chris O’Rourke. “I went to the bench and they got some energy into our game. Overall, our team depth was the key to the victory.”

Korea defeated Canada 82-79. After the Canadians started with a 10-0 run in the first, Korea made some adjustments and went on a run of their own. Eighteen points later Canada found themselves down 19-13 and it would be the last they saw of the lead until the second half. At one point in the first half, Korea held a 13-point lead but in the end, the Canadians narrowed the gap with a three-point shot just before the buzzer by guard Garry Gallimore. Neil MacDonald poured in some big points in the second half including the pair of baskets that tied up the game with 8:17 remaining in the third. “We felt flat in the first quarter and it hurt us a lot,” said MacDonald. “Everyone will say we missed the last shot but it was the first quarter that put as behind to begin with.” Korea led 31-21, 47-45 and 70-62 at the quarters. Chan Hee Park paced Korea with 24 on 3-7 from the floor, 5-9 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 7 assists. Sung Min Cho added 17 on 2-3 from the floor, 3-9 from the arc and 4-6 from the line. Sekeun Oh notched 12 on 5-10 from the floor and 13 boards. Hee Sun Yoo scored 11, Bong Su Kim 10, Ji Un Lee 5, Hwiryang Jung 2, and Keung Soo Bang 1, while Hung Chul Park, Jaihong Jung, Yeo Kwon Yoon and Ilyoung Heo were scoreless. Korea shot 26-55 (.470) from the field, 14-27 (.510) from the floor, 12-28 (.420) from the arc and 18-26 (.690) from the line, while garnering 31 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 17 turnovers, 6 steals, 2 blocks and 13 fouls. Garry Gallimore paced Canada with 25 on 7-11 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 5-5 from the line and 2 steals. Josh Gibson-Bascombe added 14 on 7-11 from the floor, 8 boards and 4 steals. Neil Macdonald notched 13 on 6-10 from the floor, 1-5 from the line and 8 boards. Theo Davis added 12 on 6-15 from the floor and 13 boards. Tristan Blackwood added 6, Jamie McNeilly 5, Jevohn Shepherd 2 and Maxime Paulhus-Gosselin 2, while Willie Galick, J.P. Morin, Ross Bekkering and Scott Morrison were scoreless. Canada shot 33-77 (.420) from the field, 28-58 (.480) from the floor, 5-19 (.260) from the arc and 8-16 from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 20 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 8 turnovers, 12 steals and 20 fouls.

Canada thrashed Israel 83-54 after leading 20-19, 37-30 and 57-42 at the quarters. Jevohn Shepherd paced Canada with 19 on 6-7 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 4-4 from the line. Josh Gibson-Bascombe added 13 on 5-6 from the floor, 3 boards and 4 assists. Theo Davis notched 10 on 3-8 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 6 boards. Willie Galick added 9 on 4-5 from the floor and 5 boards. Tristan Blackwood added 8, Scott Morrison 7, Neil Macdonald 6, Jamie McNeilly 5, Ross Bekkering 2, J.P. Morin 2 and Garry Gallimore 2, while Maxime Paulhus-Gosselin was scoreless. Canada shot 35-62 (.560) from the field, 29-51 (.560) from the floor, 6-11 (.540) from the arc and 7-14 from the line, while garnering 41 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 19 assists, 15 turnovers, 5 steals, 3 blocks and 18 fouls. Guny Izraely paced Israel with 12 on 3-5 from the floor, 2-12 from the arc, 4 boards and 5 assists. Ben Simol Avraham added 10 on 3-6 from the floor and 5 boards. Anton Kazarnovski added 8, Yuval Naimy 7, Nitzan Yehuda Hanochi 5, Eilon Zagury 5, Simin Igur 2, Jonatan Nir 2, Erez Kohansky 2 and Vladimir Ermichin 1, while Dror Davidi, and Lior Lipshits were scoreless. Israel shot 22-66 (.330) from the field, 19-43 (.440) from the floor, 3-23 (.130) from the arc and 7-15 (.460) from the line, while garnering 24 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 9 turnovers, 8 steals, 2 blocks and 18 fouls. “It was do or die for us,” said coach Chris O’Rourke. “Overall, it was a tremendous team effort to get the win and advance.” After a slow start that saw the team fall to an early 8-0 run by the Israelis, O’Rourke went to the bench and the team regrouped to take the lead by one going into the second quarter. “Our game plan was to play a lot of zone coverage,” said O’Rourke. “It was significant for us in putting pressure on Israel to shoot.” Josh Gibson-Bascombe had a solid game after coming off of the bench. “Israel is a good team and we got good play from the entire bench to take the game,” said Gibson-Bascombe. “It’s over now and we’ve got to look towards the quarter-final.”

Canada finished in a three-way tie with Korea (2-1) and Israel (2-1) in Pool I. The tie was broken by total points for and as a result Canada finished at the top with Korea just behind.

In the quarterfinals, Canada defeated Germany 68-63. Germany led 16-13, 35-28 and 50-42 at the quarters. Theo Davis paced Canada with 14 on 5-10 from the floor, 4-7 from the line and 8 boards. Neil Macdonald added 10 on 3-8 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 10 boards and 3 blocks. Jevohn Shepherd notched 10 on 3-13 from the floor, 4-8 from the line, 4 boards and 2 steals. Tristan Blackwood scored 10 on 2-5 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 3 assists. Josh Gibson-Bascombe scored 9 on 3-3 from the floor, 3 boards and 2 assists. Jamie McNeilly scored 8 on 2-2 from the arc. Garry Gallimore added 5 and Scott Morrison 2, while Willie Galick, Maxime Paulus-Gosselin, J.P. Morin and Ross Bekkering were scoreless. Canada shot 23-67 (.340) from the field, 17-49 (.340) from the floor, 6-18 (.330) from the arc and 16-23 (.690) from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 9 assists, 14 turnovers, 6 steals, 7 blocks and 14 fouls. Heiko Schaffartzik paced Germany with 21 on 3-7 from the floor, 5-11 from the arc and 4 boards. Gordon Geib added 14 on 4-8 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 3-6 from the line, 5 boards and 4 assists. Philip R. Zwiener notched 13 on 5-11 from the floor and 8 boards. Moritz J. Wohlers added 5 on 1-2 from the arc and 8 boards. Yassin M. Idbihi added 5, Sebastian Betz 3 and Dirk Macrich 2. Jermain Raffington ripped down 6 boards. Jan Lipke, Sebastian Barth, Flavio Stuckemann and Max Weber were scoreless. Germany shot 25-73 (.340) from the field, 16-59 (.320) from the floor, 9-24 (.370) from the arc and 4-10 from the line, while garnering 47 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 13 turnovers, 8 steals, 2 blocks and 24 fouls. Down 14 points with eight minutes to go, Theo Davis of Toronto scored six consecutive points, including two from the line to close the gap. Other points in the final run came from Neil MacDonald, Jevohn Shepherd and Tristan Blackwood before Shepherd scored the tying basket at 3:53. Blackwood’s three-pointer opened the lead for Canada and a pair of German fouls sealed the win. “I told the guys at the eight-minute mark that we needed to close the gap to six,” said coach Chris O’Rourke (Guelph, Ont.). “If we did that, the momentum would change and it did at the end of the game. We also made our free throws late, which was really important.” The Canadians had trouble on offense all afternoon. “We came out today with the lethargic effort we put up against Korea,” said O’Rourke on the start of the game. “We were a step behind and not doing what we needed to do. I thought we were fortunate to be done by only seven at the half.” Macdonald said “they came out with a good run in the first half, but we just started to fight through it in the second half. Coach called a timeout and told us that we could either give up or start to chip away at the lead. So, that’s what we went out and did.”

In the semi-finals, Lithuania stomped Canada 79-64 after lead 26-20, 48-42 and 60-50 at the quarters. Jonas Maciulis paced Lithuania with 18 on 4-7 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 5 boards. Steponas Babrauskas added 13 on 3-6 from the floor, 4-5 from the line and 5 boards. Marius Prekevicius notched 12 on 3-3 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 5 steals. Justas Sinica notched 10 on 2-3 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 assists. Michailo Anisimov added 7 on 3-6 from the floor and 7 boards. Antanas Kavaliauskas added 6, Mantas Kalnietis 6, Darius Silinskis 4, Rolandas Alijevas 2 and Valdas Vasylius 1, while Vytenis Jasikevicius and Giedrius Kurtinaitis were scoreless. Lithuania shot 27-61 (.440) from the field, 20-40 from the floor, 7-21 from the arc and 18-27 (.660) from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 15 turnovers, 11 steals, 5 blocks and 26 fouls. Scott Morrison led Canada with 16 points on 7-10, 2-2 from the line and 5 rebounds. Jevohn Shepherd added 9 3-8 from the floor, 3-5 from the line and 3 boards. Jamie McNeilly added 8 on 2-7 from the floor and 5 boards. Tristan Blackwood added 7 on 2-8 from the arc and 4 assists. Garry Gallimore added 7 on 2-3 from the floor and 1-2 from the arc. Theo Davis added 6 on 3-7 from the floor and 7 boards. J.P. Morin scored 5, Neil Macdonald 3 and Josh Gibson-Bascombe 3, while Willie Galick, Maxime Paulhus-Gosselin and Ross Bekkering were scoreless. Canada shot 24-64 (.370) from the field, 19-45 (.420) from the floor, 5-19 (.260) from the arc and 11-17 (.640) from the line, while garnering 30 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 11 assists, 18 turnovers, 3 steals, 1 block and 25 fouls. “We played a half of basketball against a good team in the semifinals,” said coach Chris O’Rourke. “You can’t do that against a team like Lithuania or they’ll make you pay for it when you lose focus.” The Lithuanians held Canada to eight points in the third quarter and put the game out of reach by increasing the lead to 10. By the fourth, it was too late for the Canadians to close the gap. “We knew coming into the tournament that our offense would be up and down and as a result we would have to rely on our defense,” said O’Rourke. Morrison added that “they are big and strong and they were able to post off of some of
our guards. We stayed with them in the first half, but they took off in the second.” In the bronze medal match, Canada defeated Japan 90-84. Canada used a 17-0 run late in the third quarter to gain momentum and come back from a 20-point deficit and defeat Japan. The run was highlighted by two three-point shots by Tristan Blackwood who nailed the baskets at the buzzer in the third and the start of the fourth quarter. “We stuck together even though we were down by 20 and kept our composure,” said Blackwood. “In the third, the coaches wanted the ball down low and Japan was sagging. It opened me up and I got open looks and nailed some threes.” Japan shot over 70% in the first 10 minutes of play, nailing several three-pointers and building a 16-point lead at the end of the quarter, putting a familiar pressure on the red-and-white. “We got off to the worst possible scenario with Japan shooting so well,” said coach Chris O’Rourke. “The next thing we know, we’re down by 20. The team showed some tremendous character to not give up despite the large deficit.” The Canadians began to close the gap in the second quarter. Neil MacDonald put up six points in the remaining five minutes of play, while four other players tallied enough points to outscore their opponents by six heading into the break, 45-35. “We said going into the end of the half that we needed to be down by 10 to do this,” said O’Rourke. “Tristan Blackwood caught fire for us and we pounded inside and it gave us the momentum we needed.” The Canadians stalled Japan at 64 points through four minutes of play, while they racked up 17 points with seven baskets including two three-pointers as well as a free-throw. Japan battled back, closing the lead to two points, but it wasn’t enough to stop the red and white. “We got solid contributions from our big guys, especially Theo Davis and Neil MacDonald. Also, Scott Morrison came on very well toward the end of the tournament, especially in the last 3 games when it mattered most”, said O’Rourke. “Our guards, especially Tristan Blackwood and Josh Gibson-Bascombe were very good as well. In the bronze medal game, we took control with Josh at the point and Tristan at the off-guard spot as Tristan hit a lot of big shots to get us back in the game. Also, not having Josh at full strength for Lithuania hurt us as he got better and the team gained more confidence in him at the point as the tournament moved on.” O’Rourke also thought that Jevohn Shepherd had moments of greatness during the tournament including his big game against New Zealand in the first round while Garry Gallimore had his usual dominant defensive efforts and again showed the way with his work ethic and ability to compete on each and every play. “Both Garry and Neil played very well and hopefully this experience will give them a head start in Europe.” Jamie McNeilly also displayed tremendous leadership as a veteran of international play for Canada. “All in all, doing as well as we did without Casey (Archibald), who likely would have been one of our main scorers with his ability to shoot the ball, was very gratifying for everyone”, O’Rourke stated.