FINAL STANDINGS
1. United States
2. Ukraine
3. Serbia & Montenegro
4. Russia
5. Germany
6. Turkey
7. Australia
8. CANADA
9. Italy
10. Lithuania
11. Greece
12. Finland
13. Czech Republic
14. China
15. Korea
16. Japan
17. Slovakia
18. Iran
19. Portugal
20. Angola
21. Great Britain
22. Brazil
23. Mexico
24. Estonia
25. South Africa
26. Cyprus
27. Lebanon
28. Peru
29. United Arab Emirates
30. Haiti 		CANADIANS
Pasha Bains (Richmond, B.C./U.B.C.)
Jimmy Balderson (Raymond, Alta/B.Y.U.)
Rans Brempong (Thornhill, Ont./Western Carolina)
Jeff Ferguson (Toronto, Ont./Missouri)
Kyle Julius (Kitchener, Ont./Guelph)
Mike King (Cambridge, Ont./Wisconsin-Green Bay)
Jamie McNeilly (Scarborough, Ont./New Orleans)
Scott Morrison (North Vancouver, B.C./Portland St)
Erfan Nasajpour (Winnipeg, Man./Winnipeg)
Jordan Sabourin (Sarnia, Ont./Oakland)
James Shane (Toronto, Ont./Loyola-Ill)
Jevohn Shepherd (Scarborough, Ont./Michigan)
Kevin Hanson – coach
Thom Gillespie – assistant
Sherman Hamilton – Assistant
John Grace – manager
Geoff Mabey – therapist  
  POOL A TUR FIN BRZ UAE Record  
  Turkey —– 80-59 121-76 124-46 (3-0)  
  Finland 59-80 —– 79-66 103-39 (2-1)  
  Brazil 76-121 66-79 —– 98-69 (1-2)  
  United Arab Emirates 46-124 39-103 69-98 —– (0-3)  
               
  POOL B SER KOR HAI SWE Record  
  Serbia & Montenegro —– 100-72 104-70 2-0 (3-0)  
  Korea 72-100 —– 97-72 2-0 (2-1)  
  Haiti 70-104 72-97 —– 2-0 (1-2)  
  Sweden 0-2 0-2 0-2 —– (0-3)  
               
  POOL C RUS JPN CYP RSA Record  
  Russia —– 100-64 96-49 90-43 (3-0)  
  Japan 64-100 —– 76-56 63-55 (2-1)  
  Cyprus 49-96 56-76 —– 67-58 (1-2)  
  South Africa 43-90 55-63 58-67 —– (0-3)  
               
  POOL D CAN ITA ANG POR Record  
  Canada —– 84-76 80-68 86-68 (3-0)  
  Italy 76-84 —– 77-52 86-58 (2-1)  
  Angola 68-80 52-77 —– 76-63 (1-2)  
  Portugal 68-86 58-86 63-76 —– (0-3)  
               
  POOL E CZE CHN PER CRO Record  
  Czech Republic —– 74-48 92-29 2-0 (3-0)  
  China 48-74 —– 97-58 2-0 (2-1)  
  Peru 29-92 59-97 —– 2-0 (1-2)  
  Croatia 0-2 0-2 0-2 —– (0-3)  
               
  POOL F USA GER SLO IRN Record  
  United States —– 72-62 85-70 94-47 (3-0)  
  Germany 62-72 —– 80-60 64-60 (2-1)  
  Slovakia 70-85 60-80 —– 75-57 (1-2)  
  Iran 47-94 60-64 57-75 —– (0-3)  
               
  POOL G LIT AUS GBR LEB Record  
  Lithuania —– 68-65 96-91 116-51 (3-0)  
  Australia 65-68 —– 80-72 99-69 (2-1)  
  Great Britain 91-96 72-80 —– 87-68 (1-2)  
  Lebanon 51-116 69-99 68-87 —– (0-3)  
               
  POOL H UKR GRE MEX EST Record  
  Ukraine —– 88-73 79-75 78-53 (3-0)  
  Greece 73-88 —– 83-66 72-66 (2-1)  
  Mexico 75-79 66-83 —– 68-63 (1-2)  
  Estonia 53-78 66-72 63-68 —– (0-3)  
               
  MEDALS POOL I SER TUR FIN KOR Record  
  Serbia & Montenegro —– 85-79 84-72 100-72 (3-0)  
  Turkey 79-85 —– 80-59 89-58 (2-1)  
  Finland 72-84 59-80 —– 73-65 (1-2)  
  Korea 72-100 58-89 65-73 —– (0-3)  
               
  MEDALS POOL J RUS CAN ITA JPN Record  
  Russia —– 82-68 78-70 100-64 (3-0)  
  Canada 68-82 —– 84-76 85-74 (2-1)  
  Italy 70-78 76-84 —– 87-53 (1-2)  
  Japan 64-100 74-85 53-87 —– (0-3)  
               
  MEDALS POOL K USA GER CZE CHN Record  
  United States —– 72-62 87-51 117-61 (3-0)  
  Germany 62-72 —– 69-53 115-69 (2-1)  
  Czech Republic 51-87 53-69 —– 74-48 (1-2)  
  China 61-117 69-115 48-74 —– (0-3)  
               
  MEDALS POOL L UKR AUS GRE LIT Record  
  Ukraine —– 85-69 88-73 89-80 (3-0)  
  Australia 69-85 —– 94-87 65-68 (1-2)  
  Greece 73-88 87-94 —– 79-74 (1-2)  
  Lithuania 80-89 68-65 74-79 —– (1-2)  
               
  CONSOLATION POOL M HAI BRZ UAE SWE Record  
  Haiti —– 98-94 115-52 2-0 (3-0)  
  Brazil 94-98 —– 98-69 2-0 (2-1)  
  United Arab Emirates 52-115 69-98 —– 2-0 (1-2)  
  Sweden 0-2 0-2 0-2 —– (0-3)  
               
  CONSOLATION POOL N ANG POR CYP RSA Record  
  Angola —– 76-63 62-57 57-55 (3-0)  
  Portugal 63-76 —– 73-70 83-64 (2-1)  
  Cyprus 57-62 70-73 —– 67-58 (1-2)  
  South Africa 55-57 64-83 58-67 —– (0-3)  
               
  CONSOLATION POOL O SLO IRN PER CRO Record  
  Slovakia —– 75-57 105-65 2-0 (3-0)  
  Iran 57-75 —– 78-38 2-0 (2-1)  
  Peru 65-105 38-78 —– 2-0 (1-2)  
  Croatia 0-2 0-2 0-2 —– (0-3)  
               
  CONSOLATION POOL P GBR MEX EST LEB Record  
  Great Britain —– 86-84 65-59 87-68 (3-0)  
  Mexico 84-86 —– 68-63 80-66 (2-1)  
  Estonia 59-65 63-68 —– 99-76 (1-2)  
  Lebanon 68-87 66-80 76-99 —– (0-3)  
               
  QFs United States 88 Australia 68
  QFs Ukraine 69 Germany 62
  QFs Serbia & Montenegro 80 Canada 77
  QFs Russia 83 Turkey 79
  9-16th Lithuania 108 China 69
  9-16th Greece 70 Czech Republic 58
  9-16th Finland 77 Japan 73
  9-16th Italy 88 Korea 85
  17-24th Portugal 2 Haiti 0
  17-24th Angola 74 Brazil 68
  17-24th Slovakia 75 Mexico 71
  17-24th Iran 64 Great Britain 56
  25-32nd South Africa 90 United Arab Emirates 40
  25-32nd Cyprus (default Sweden)
  25-32nd Lebanon 2 Peru 0
  25-32nd Estonia (default Croatia)
  25-28th Estonia 90 Lebanon 75
  25-28th South Africa 72 Cyprus 68
  21-24th Great Britain 2 Haiti 0
  21-24th Brazil 88 Mexico 81
  17-20th Iran 80 Portugal 71
  17-20th Slovakia 73 Angola 62
  13-16th Czech Republic 86 Korea 82
  13-16th China 81 Japan 76
  9-12th Italy 104 Greece 84
  9-12th Lithuania 99 Finland 80
  5-8th Germany 63 Canada 59
  5-8th Turkey 82 Australia 72
  Semi United States 120 Russia 80
  Semi Ukraine 69 Serbia & Montenegro 63
  28th Peru 2 United Arab Emirates 0
  26th Cyprus 2 Lebanon 0
  24th Estonia 79 South Africa 47
  23rd Mexico (default on Haiti withdrawal)
  21st Great Britain 2 Brazil 0
  19th Portugal 68 Angola 67
  17th Slovakia 61 Iran 56
  15th Korea 96 Japan 82
  13th Czech Republic 102 China 56
  11th Greece 85 Finland 81
  9th Italy 83 Lithuania 82
  7th Australia 81 Canada 75
  5th Germany 74 Turkey 55
  Bronze Serbia & Montenegro 86 Russia 77
  Final United States 85 Ukraine 70
     

        Sweden and Croatia withdraw before competition commences.

        Haiti withdrew in classification round and is placed 30th.

        In their opener, Canada defeated Angola 80-68. Canada took a 27-point lead into the fourth quarter and held off a late surge for the win. Canada jumped to an early 14-7 lead and went back to the locker room at the half with a 45-32 advantage. After the break, the Canadians shifted to the next gear and outscored their opponents 24-10 in the third frame, all but putting the game away at 69-42. But the suffered a letdown in the final quarter as a 76-45 lead shrunk to the final 12-point advantage. “Hopefully what we will learn from this is we have to play for a full 40 minutes,” commented CIS player of the year Pasha Bains, adding that the team’s offensive balance helped. “On any given day, a different player can step up and get the job done.” Coach Kevin Hanson was happy about the result despite his troops lack of intensity in the final 10 minutes. “It felt like several games into one. The guys were nervous at the start, then we really got going in the second and third quarters, and then this major letdown at the end. I’m pretty happy overall, but we have to be able to close. We put a lot of emphasis on the fact that point differential can be important at the end of round-robin play, so I think some guys thought too much about scoring and forgot about defense.”

Pasha Bains paced Canada with 14 points on 5-10 from the floor, 3-7 from the line and 4 boards. Jimmy Balderson scored 10 on 5-7 from the floor and 6 boards. Jeffrey Ferguson notched 10 on 4-8 from the floor and 10 boards. Jevohn Shepherd scored 9 on 2-6 from the floor. Mike King notched 9 on 2-4 from the floor, 5-6 from the line and 7 boards. Rans Brempong scored 8 on 2-7 from the floor, 4-6 from the line and 3 blocks. James Shane scored 7, Erfan Nasajpour 5, Kyle Julius 4 and Scott Morrison 4, while Jamie McNeilly and Jordan Sabourin were scoreless. Canada shot 30-64 (.460) from the floor, 4-14 (.280) from the arc and 16-33 (.480) from the line, while garnering 50 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 28 turnovers, 9 steals, 4 blocks and 27 fouls. Paulo Leonel led Angola with 14 points on 5-9 from the floor and 6 boards. Anlide Lufungula added 10 on 5-8 from the floor and 6 boards. Jorge Tati scored 10 on 3-10 from the floor. Francisco Horacio notched 8 on 2-10 from the arc and 6 steals. Domingos Bonifacio scored 8, Francisco Pinto 6, Afonso Rodrigues 5, Vladimir Pontes 3, Helder Ortec 2, Eugenio Amaral 2, Marco Lutucuta 0 and Edgar Dos Santos 0. Angola shot 27-79 (.340) from the floor, 8-26 (.300) from the arc and 6-18 (.330) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 18 turnovers, 24 steals, 3 blocks and 27 fouls.

        Canada improved to (2-0) by whipping Portugal 86-68 as Jimmy Balderson shot the lights out. “I felt pretty good today,” said Balderson, who was celebrating his 22nd birthday. “After I dropped my first shot, everything kind of followed. Sometimes for a scorer, that’s all it takes.” Kyle Julius was equally prolific and happy to make an offensive contribution. “I just haven’t felt good since I got here. I have a cold, a thumb injury. I’m happy because I knew I could do so much more out there.” The Canadians got off to a shaky start, trailing by as much as 10 points in the opening quarter, at 17-7, before closing the gap to 24-18 by the end of the period. Things improved in the second quarter. The Red & White played catch up for most of the 10-minute frame but managed to go back to the locker room at the half with a 43-37 advantage. Back from the break, Canada stormed out of the blocks scoring 10 unanswered points and never looked behind. “We had a horrible start today but fortunately, some guys, especially Jimmy (Balderson) and Shane (James), step up near the end of the opening half and got us going,” commented coach Kevin Hanson. “We decided to give those guys a chance to start the second half, and they carried us the rest of the way. We have a lot of good players and scorers on this team, it’s just a matter of finding who is hot and utilize them.” Hanson also hoped his troops had finally learned their lesson after two games in which they experienced ups and downs. “Basketball is a game of runs. We’ve now had bad runs at the end of a game, and bad runs at the start of a game.” Hanson also noted that “a lot of credit for our recent performances goes to Canada Basketball. “They really understand the importance of this tournament as a world championship for university students, and are doing a great job at identifying the best talent in this age group.” According to Hanson, Canada Basketball’s new philosophy and structure is a recipe for success. “You just look at the talent that goes through our cadet program and our young men’s team. It’s extremely promising.” UBC’s sideline boss also has good words for his fellow Canadian Interuniversity Sport coaches. “The level of coaching has improved dramatically all across the board in the CIS. You’ll notice that while they might not always represent the majority of athletes on the student team, CIS players selected for the Universiade always perform very well.” Jimmy Balderson scored 24 to pace Canada on 8-12 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 5-9 from the line, 8 boards and 3 steals. Kyle Julius added 19 on 4-11 from the arc and 7-8 from the line. Jeffrey Ferguson scored 11 on 2-10 from the floor and 8 boards. Jevohn Shepherd scored 8 on 2-5 from the floor and 8 boards. James Shane notched 6 on 2-5 from the floor, 4 boards and 4 assists. Scott Morrison scored 6 on 3-6 from the floor and 5 boards. Pasha Bains scored 5, Rams Brempong 4, Jamie McNeilly 2 and Jordan Sabourin 1, while Erfan Nasajpour and Mike King were scoreless. Canada shot 25-65 (.380) from the floor, 10-30 from the arc and 26-41 (.630) from the line, while garnering 49 boards, including 18 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 21 turnovers, 13 steals, 3 blocks and 31 fouls. Emanuel Silva led Portugal with 16 points on 6-11 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc and 5 boards. Antonio Carrilho notched 15 on 3-7 from the arc and 6-7 from the line. Luis Figueiredo scored 9, Miguel Minhava 7, Luis Simao 5, Fernando Sousa 6, Helder Afonzo 2, Angelo Brito 2 Miguel Salvador 2, Tiago Westenfeld 2, Mario Fernandes 1 and Marco Goncalves 0. Portugal shot 20-61 (.320) from the floor, 8-23 (.340) from the arc and 20-35 (.570) from the line, while garnering 31 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 11 assists, 19 turnovers, 12 steals, 1 block and 34 fouls.

        Canada defeated Italy 84-76 for its third consecutive win, while overcoming a 14-point halftime deficit. “This win is huge,” said coach Kevin Hanson. “In this kind of tournament, finishing first in your pool is crucial as your record carries over as you move on to your new group.” Rans Brempong had a monstrous game, dominating both ends of the floor. “I felt more confident today,” commented Brempong, who was playing his second game without a facial protector he wore for five weeks after suffering a broken nose. “I wasn’t worried about my lack of scoring so far because we were winning games, and this is what we are here for.” Leading 23-21 after the first quarter, the Italians held Canada scoreless in the first three minutes of the second frame, and opened a 13-point gap at 36-23, on their way to a 46-32 advantage at the break. Back from the locker room, the Canadians operated a quick turnaround and were back within three points (60-57) by the end of the third quarter. Canada finally took its first lead since the opening moments of the contest with 7:23 to go in the game when Brempong hit a jump shot to put the score at 64-63. Following a few lead changes, the Canadians scored nine unanswered points in the final 90 seconds of the match-up to seal the victory. “We battled real hard for 40 minutes,” said Hanson. “I think our defense won that game today. We weren’t playing badly in the first half, but the shots weren’t dropping. Our defense held us in the game and as we started to warm up offensively, the D led to points in the third and fourth quarters. The last five minutes, this is the best defense we’ve played all summer.” Brempong was also impressed with the team’s character. “I’ve been on teams that would have packed it in after the first half. We grew a lot tonight as a team.” Jimmy Balderson added: “this is a special group of guys.” Jimmy Balderson scored 19 on 7-10 from the floor, 4-6 from the line, 4 boards and 3 steals. Rans Brempong notched 19 on 7-11 from the floor, 3-3 from the arc, 9 boards and 5 blocks. Jeffery Ferguson scored 19 on 7-11 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 3-6 from the line and 5 boards. Shane James scored 7 on 3-7 from the floor and Kyle Julius 6 on 3-3 from the floor. Pasha Bains added 4, Erfan Nasajpour 4, Jamie McNeilly 2, Jevohn Shepherd 2, Mike King 2, Scott Morrison 0 and Jordan Sabourin 0. Canada shot 24-40 (.600) from the floor, 7-22 (.310) from the arc and 15-27 (.550) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 23 turnovers, 17 steals, 6 blocks and 34 fouls. Daniele Cinciarini led Italy with 23 on 9-17 from the floor, 5-8 from the line 6 boards and 2 steals. Tommaso Rinaldi notched 12 on 5-11 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 5 steals and 9 boards. Daniele Cavaliero scored 11 on 4-11 from the floor and 3-7 from the arc. Matteo Formenti scored 8, Giorgio Boscagin 7, Andrea Ghiacci 5, Luca Infante 4, Andrea Crosariol 4, Marco Carra 2, Marco Allegretti 0, Jacopo Valenti 0 and Stefano Maioli 0. Italy shot 29-38 from the floor, 6-25 (.240) from the arc and 20-33 (.600) from the line, while garnering 29 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 9 assists, 23 turnovers, 18 steals, 1 block and 25 fouls.

        With the win, Canada finished (3-0) in pool D, in first place and along with Italy, advances to a medals pool including Russia and Japan.

        In its medals pool opener, Canada defeated Japan 85-77 as Jeffery Ferguson had a spectacular first half, notching 12 points and eight rebounds. “Coming out with everything you have is important, it helps the flow of the game,” said Ferguson. “What is nice about our team is everybody can contribute, so the starters don’t have too much pressure on their shoulders. Any game, a guy coming off the bench can score 10 points or more.” Forward Mike King finally found himself able to play without picking up quick fouls. “It was nice not to pick up two or three fouls in the opening moments for once,” he said. “it’s true that referees call a different game in international basketball, but I hadn’t been doing a good job at adjusting before today.” The Canadians got off to their best start of the tournament and held a commanding 19-6 advantage seven minutes into the opening quarter, which ended 24-14. Helped by outstanding shooting, Japan slowly mounted a comeback in the second frame and managed to tie the contest, at 36-36, with just under two minutes to go before the break. Canada finally retreated to the locker room ahead 40-36. The Canadians came out firing in the third outscoring their opponents 25-4 to open the quarter, and held a 67-43 lead after 30 minutes. Japan refused to quit however and came back to within six points, at 80-74, with 1:43 left in the contest. “We have talked about those runs before, during, and after every game,” said coach Kevin Hanson. “We will have to find a way to be less streaky at some point. This is especially dangerous against a tremendous shooting team like Japan, which can get back in a game in a second with a couple of three pointers.” Hanson pointed out that international timeout rules could explain in part his team’s inability to stop opponent runs. “The international rules don’t allow coaches to stop the play by calling a timeout, you can only call them when the play is dead. The players have to learn to stop runs themselves. Once again, I think our depth made a difference today. It’s nice to be able to count on 12 guys who can all contribute. We have been successful when playing guys who play with emotions. We’ve been rewarding players who have performed the previous game and it has worked well for us. We have started nine different guys so far.” Jeffery Ferguson paced Canada with 24 on 11-16 from the floor and 8 boards. Jamie McNeilly added 16 on 7-9 from the floor and 2-3 from the arc. Mike King scored 15 on 7-10 from the floor, 7 boards and 3 steals. James Shane added 10 on 4-8 from the floor, 10 boards and 5 assists. Jimmy Balderson scored 6 on 3-7 from the floor. Pasha Bains scored 6 on 2-8 from the floor. Kyle Julius added 3, Jevohn Shepherd 2, Rans Brempong 2, along with 6 boards, Scott Morrison 1, Erfan Nasajpour 0 and Jordan Sabourin 0. Canada shot 37-75 (.490) from the floor, 4-18 (.220) from the arc and 7-11 from the line, while garnering 47 boards, including 18 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 16 turnovers, 23 steals, 4 blocks and 17 fouls. Reina Itakura led Japan with 19 on 7-11 from the floor, 3-4 from the arc and 6 boards. Takuro Ito added 19 on 7-15 from the floor and 5-9 from the arc. Takanori Onishi scored 15 on 6-13 from the floor. Kazuyuku Nakagawa scored 11 on 3-8 from the arc. Yuya Kagami added 3, Takumi Ishizaki 3, Takuya Sato 2, Toru Sugatani 2, Takaki Ishida 0, Yosuke Machida 0, Takanori Goya 0 and Atsuya Ota 0. Japan shot 28-61 (.450) from the floor, 12-28 (.420) from the arc, and 6-11 (.540) from the line, while garnering 25 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 6 assists, 18 turnovers, 20 steals, 4 blocks and 15 fouls.

        Canada closed out medals pool play by squandering a 24-12 first quarter lead and losing 82-68 to Russia as they again demonstrated a tendency to allow foes to climb back from a deficit with an extended run. But coach Kevin Hanson was hopeful the Canadians would learn a lesson. ‘This might turn into a positive. It is now down to an eight-team tournament, and we must dig internally to find the fire and the will to win three more games. What better motivation than trying to bounce back against the champs.” Forward Jeffrey Ferguson noted that “we weren’t as focused today. We had a lot of mental lapses. The coaches did an outstanding job getting us ready, but we didn’t play with heart like we usually do. It was like we were a different team tonight.” Ahead 26-12 in the opening moments of the second quarter, Canada saw its opponent go on a 31-8 run that resulted in a 43-34 deficit one minute into the third frame. The score at halftime was 39-34 in favor of the Europeans. The Canadians climbed back to within one point at 43-42 but it was as close as they would get. The Russians had opened a 12-point advantage after 30 minutes. “Russia is a very good team, but tonight I feel like we lost that game more than they beat us,” said Hanson. Vladimir Shevel paced Russia with 14 points on 7-10 from the floor and 5 boards. Konstantin Nesterov added 12 on 5-8 from the floor and 5 boards. Fedor Dmitriev notched 12 on 6-9 from the floor and 4 boards. Andrey Penkin scored 11 on 4-6 from the floor. Alexey Ekimov added 10 on 5-6 from the floor and 7 boards. Andrey Trushkin added 9, Alexey Zozulin 7, Andrey Ivanov 4, Sergey Bykov 2 and Andrey Vokhmyanin 1, while Taras Osipov and Alexey Lobanov were scoreless. Russia shot 33-61 (.540) from the floor, 2-16 (.120) from the arc and 14-27 (.510) from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 23 turnovers, 17 steals, 3 blocks and 18 fouls. Jeffrey Ferguson paced Canada with 25 points on 11-23 from the floor, 3-3 from the line, 12 boards and 3 steals. James Shane added 9 on 4-9 from the floor. Jevohn Shepherd scored 9 on 3-5 from the floor, 3-4 from the line and 2 steals. Jimmy Balderson scored 6 on 2-9 from the floor. Mike King scored 6 on 4-5 from the line and 5 boards. Rans Brempong added 5 and nabbed 5 boards. Pasha Bains scored 5 on 2-7 from the floor. Jamie McNeilly added 3, while Jordan Sabourin, Erfan Nasajpour, Kyle Julius and Scott Morrison were scoreless. Canada shot 26-72 (.360) from the floor, 2-16 (.120) from the arc and 14-19 (.730) from the line, while garnering 34 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 8 assists, 20 turnovers, 16 steals, 3 blocks and 25 fouls.

        In the quarterfinals, Canada dropped an 80-77 decision to two-time defending champ Serbia & Montenegro after falling just short of rallying from a 14-point deficit down the stretch. “The atmosphere in the locker room is pretty solemn right now,” said coach Kevin Hanson. “We’ll need to pull some tricks from the sports psychology books to maintain the focus for the upcoming games. But we will keep competing and will represent Canada ’til the end.” Canada never held the lead in the game. Ahead 22-11 after one quarter of play, the defending champions opened their biggest advantage of the day, at 36-19, with just under four minutes left before the break, and retreated to the locker room with a 41-26 lead as the Canadian shot the ball horrifically in the half. “If I had to pick out one main reason to explain today’s result, I would say their advantage in height and length,” said Hanson. “That led to offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, and also affected our shooting. In basketball, height and length mean an awful lot.” Down 62-48 after the third frame, Canada mounted its comeback on red-hot shooting from Jimmy Balderson and Kyle Julius. Balderson scored the team’s first nine points of the fourth period to cut the lead to 65-57 with 7:30 remaining, and Julius followed with 16 points to slowly bring Canada to within two points in the dying moments of the contest, at 79-77. After Ivan Ivanovic of Serbia made one of two free throws with 2.5 seconds left on the clock, Balderson attempted a desperate three-pointer from his own half of the court, but fell short. “It’s one thing to come back from 14 points, it’s another thing to come back from 14 points against a team like that,” said Julius. “They are a very good team, stacked with experience. There is nothing better on a basketball court than solid experience.” Balderson noted that “they were really giving it to us in the first half. They are big and strong. In the second half, our defense stepped up and opened things up for the offense with big stops, a couple of steals. It’s disappointing because even though we were down, I never thought for a
moment that we would lose.” Hanson was also quick to praise his opponents, who haven’t lost now in almost three straight Universiade tournaments. “In these tournaments, big players on big teams make big plays. Today, the Serbs showed the quiet confidence of a championship team. We couldn’t stop their runs in the first half, and they did just enough to stop ours in the second.” Vanja Plisnic led Serbia with 14 on 5-11 from the floor and 7 boards. Ivan Ivanovic added 12 on 3-7 from the arc. Feliks Kojadinovic notched 11 on 3-5 from the arc and 5 boards. Milan Dozet scored 11 on 6-6 from the line. Milenko Tepic notched 10 on 4-7 from the floor and 6 boards. Vladimir Golubovic scored 6, Marko Scekic 5, Estrahinja Milosevic 5, Ilija Zolotic 3, Ivan Bosnjak 4, Dusan Djordjevic 0 and Nenad Bogdanovic 0. Serbia & Montenegro shot 24-58 (.410) from the floor, 10-31 (.320) from the arc and 22-32 (.680) from the line, while garnering 47 boards, including 20 on the offensive glass, 11 assists, 20 turnovers, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 22 fouls. Jimmy Balderson led Canada with 26 on 9-19 from the floor, 7-13 from the arc, 4 boards and 3 assists. Kyle Julius added 22 on 7-18 from the floor, 4-11 from the arc, 4-6 from the line and 3steals. Jeffrey Ferguson added 12 on 5-12 from the floor and 6 boards. Rams Brempong added 4, Mike King 4, Jevohn Shepherd 3, Jamie McNeilly 3, James Shane 2 and Scott Morrison 1, while Jordan Sabourin, Erfan Nasajpour and Pasha Bains were scoreless. Canada shot 25-69 (.360) from the floor, 12-34 (.350) from the arc and 15-27 (.550) from the line, while garnering 30 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 11 assists, 8 turnovers, 10 steals, 2 blocks and 26 fouls.

        In the classification round, Canada fell 63-59 to Germany. Coach Kevin Hanson said his troops were disconsolate after the heartbreaking quarterfinal loss. “We talked to some of the guys this morning, and they were sick to their stomach about not competing for medals. We just couldn’t get over the mental barrier of being relegated to the consolation side. As a coaching staff we truly enjoyed the experience of working with this group of guys and it hurts not to play for a medal, but it is still disappointing to see that we couldn’t come out to play well today. We preached all summer about never missing an opportunity to work on your game even when things are not going your way. Some of these guys still play for an opportunity to suit up for the senior national team down the road.” Canada came out flat and was trailing 14-13 at the end of an erratic first quarter. The Germans opened their biggest lead of the afternoon, at 31-20, with just under five minutes left in the second frame but a pair of three-pointers by Jimmy Balderson brought the Canadians back to within three points, at 31-28. The scoreboard showed 33-28 in favor of Germany after 20 minutes. The two teams went toe-to-toe in the third quarter but Canada couldn’t jump ahead and was still trailing, 46-44, when the period came to an end. Another three-point shot from Balderson on the first play of the final quarter cut the German advantage to one point, and the Canadians finally took the lead, at 50-49, when Jevohn Shepherd also hit the target from beyond the arc. Ahead 57-51, Canada folded in the final minutes of the contest however and saw its European opponent close out the match on a 12-2 run. Shepherd tied the game at 59-59 with 1:20 left but a pair of free throws by Christopher McNaughton and a jump shot by Johannes Strasser sealed the win for Germany. “Even though this was a classification game, it hurts a lot,” commented Shepherd. “I think we need to check our pride. We were sent here to represent Canada, and we didn’t do a very good job at that today.” Hanson sees in Shepherd a player who could represent Canada for years to come. “Part of our job with this team is to help players like Jevohn develop with the hope they can one day reach the senior national team. There is something special about Jevohn. He just needs experience and a big part of that comes from playing games, which is why we wanted to give him quality minutes.” Johannes Strasser led Germany with 19 points on 8-11 from the floor, 3-4 from the arc and 3 boards. Alexander Segelke added 12 on 3-6 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 5 boards. Gordon Geib scored 6, Johannes Herber 5, Daniel Strauch 4, Guido Grunmeid 4, Christopher McNaughton 4, Lars Gruebler 4, Dirk Maedrich 4 and Sascha Leutluff 2, while Hendrik Feist and Peter Fehse were scoreless. Germany shot 22-52 (.420) from the floor, 6-25 (.240) from the arc and 13-18 (.720) from the line, while garnering 29 boards, including 7 on the offensive glass, 6 assists, 15 turnovers, 9 steals, 4 blocks and 17 fouls. Jimmy Balderson paced Canada with 19 on 6-15 from the floor, 5-9 from the arc, 5 boards and 4 steals. Jevohn Shepherd added 9 on 2-8 from the floor, 4-4 from the line and 7 boards. Jeffrey Ferguson scored 8 on 4-11 from the floor and 4 boards. Rans Brempong scored 8 on 4-10 from the floor. James Shane added 7 on 2-5 from the floor, 6 boards and 3 assists. Mike King scored 4 on 1-5 from the floor and 9 boards. Erfan Nasajpour scored 3 and Jordan Sabourin 1, while Jamie McNeilly, Pasha Bains, Kyle Julius and Scott Morrison were scoreless. Canada shot 20-65 (.300) from the floor, 8-27 (.290) from the arc and 11-14 (.780) from the line, while garnering 40 boards, including 19 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 17 turnovers, 10 steals, 1 block and 20 fouls.

In the seventh-place match, Australia defeated Canada 81-75. The Canadians lost their fourth straight after opening the draw with four wins. “It was like two completely separate tournaments,” said coach Kevin Hanson. “We hit a big high following our come-from-behind win over Italy in game three of the preliminary round, and then we hit the wall. As a coaching staff, we’ve been trying to find out what the problem was, we’ve been trying to find a solution. It’s going to be tough going back home knowing we could have beaten some of these teams had we brought our A game to the gym.” Canada trailed 43-42 at the half but the Australians extended their lead to 58-47 midway through the second half. A trey by Jeff Ferguson closed the gap to 68-65 three minutes into the final frame but it was as close as Canada would get. “All of us, including the coaching staff, will have to look internally and reflect on what we could have done differently,” said Hanson. “I’m not making excuses, but I think our lack of preparation caught up to us in the second part of the tournament. As a team, we were together for two and a half days before coming here.” Daniel Dillon paced Australia with 15 points on 6-12 from the floor and 2-5 from the arc. Simon Conn added 14 on 6-11 from the floor and 3 boards. John Philip scored 14 on 6-7 from the floor. Christopher Cameron added 10 on 4-8 from the floor and 4 boards. Brent Hobba scored 9 on 4-5 from the floor and 7 boards. Ben Hunt scored 7 and dished 4 assists. Drew Williamson notched 6, while Kevin Brophy scored 4 and dished 5 assists. Mitch Brennan notched 2, while Kye Patrick and Ian Crosswhite were scoreless. Australia shot 33-62 (.530) from the floor, 11-20 (.550) from the arc and 4-7 (.570) from the line, while garnering 23 boards, including 7 on the offensive glass, 14 assists, 12 turnovers, 13 steals, 1 block and 15 fouls. Mike King paced Canada with 14 on 6-11 from the floor, 5 boards and 3 assists. Rams Brempong added 12 on 5-8 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 6 boards, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Pasha Bains notched 11 on 5-10 from the floor and 1-4 from the arc. Jimmy Balderson scored 9 on 4-9 from the floor. Jeffrey Ferguson scored 8 on 2-7 from the floor and 3-4 from the line. Erfan Nasajpour notched 5, James Shane 4, Jamie McNeilly 4, Jevohn Shepherd 4, Scott Morrison 2, Jordan Sabourin 2 and Kyle Julius 0. Canada shot 32-63 (.500) from the floor, 6-15 (.400) from arc and 5-8 (.620) from the line, while garnering 30 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 16 assists, 19 turnovers, 7 steals, 2 blocks and 15 fouls.