| FINAL STANDINGS 1 Puerto Rico 2 Venezuela 3 United States 4 Argentina 5 Dominican Republic 6 Brazil 7 CANADA 8 Mexico | CANADIANS Casey Archibald (Blind Bay, B.C.) Henry Bekkering (Taber, Alta.) Kingsley Costain (Toronto, Ont.) Sean Denison (Trail, B.C.) Graham Dow (Burlington, Ont.) Garry Gallimore (Ottawa, Ont.) Shane James (Toronto, Ont.) Levon Kendall (Kitsilano, B.C.) Majak Kou (Hamilton, Ont.) Erfan Nasajpour (Winnipeg, Man.) Jemino Sobers (Toronto, Ont.) Patrick Tatham (Toronto, Ont.) Dave Crook – coach Chris O’Rourke – assistant |
| POOL A | USA | ARG | DOM | MEX | Record | ||
| United States | —– | 75-73 | 109-70 | 101-41 | (3-0) | ||
| Argentina | 73-75 | —– | 81-76 | 74-50 | (2-1) | ||
| Dominican Republic | 70-109 | 76-81 | —– | 75-44 | (1-2) | ||
| Mexico | 41-101 | 50-74 | 44-75 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL B | PUR | VEN | BRA | CAN | Record | ||
| Puerto Rico | —– | 72-66 | 78-72 | 76-74 | (3-0) | ||
| Venezuela | 66-72 | —– | 78-66 | 70-59 | (2-1) | ||
| Brazil | 72-78 | 66-78 | —– | 94-85 | (1-2) | ||
| Canada | 74-76 | 59-70 | 85-94 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| 5-8th | Brazil 61 Mexico 55 | |
| 5-8th | Dominican Republic 61 Canada 59 ot | |
| Semi | Venezuela 67 United States 65 | |
| Semi | Puerto Rico 64 Argentina 60 | |
| 7th | Canada 67 Mexico 65 | |
| 5th | Dominican Republic 96 Brazil 78 | |
| Bronze | United States 71 Argentina 65 | |
| Final | Puerto Rico 76 Venezuela 53 | |
University of Winnipeg head coach Dave Crook was selected to coach junior team by Basketball Canada. Dave Crook just completed his first year with the Wesmen but has coached in the CIS for 18 years. He was selected CIS Coach of the Year in 1999. The previous summer he was an assistant coach with Canada’s World Student University Games team that competed in Beijing, China.
Canada opened by dropping a 70-59 decision to host Venezuela. The first half was even with Venezuela ahead just 28-27 after 20 minutes. But the Canadian junior men had too many errors in this game to pull out a
win. They shot only 50% (10-20) from the free throw line while their opponents shot 82% (18-22). Canada also committed 17 turnovers. Levon Kendall Led Canada with a double-double scoring 13 points and pulling down 13 boards. Casey Archibald followed with eight points, as did Patrick Tatham with eight points and three rebounds. “We didn’t do the little things and our errors cost us in the end,” said coach Dave Crook. “Venezuela played very well.”
Canada was then defeated in overtime by Brazil, 94-85. Free throw shooting proved to be the nemesis tonight again only shooting 50% (6-12) from the line. Brazil shot 75% from the free throw line and 57% from the floor.
Canada was ahead 45-44 at the half with Erfan Nasajpour scoring 10. At the end of the fourth quarter, Casey Archibald Converted one of two free throws to tie the game at 80-80 and sent them into overtime. But Canada started the overtime with two turnovers, which proved to be costly and too difficult to overcome. Jemino Sobers (Toronto, ON) led Canada with 19 points and four boards. Levon Kendall followed with 13 points and six rebounds while Henry Bekkering and Graham Dow both finished with 11 points. “It was a very tough loss,” said coach Dave Crook. “Now we have to wait for others to do the work for us. We played well enough to win.”
The Canadian national junior men’s basketball team was narrowly defeated by Puerto Rico 76-74. The lead changed hands throughout the game and at the half Puerto Rico was up, 40-36. With three minutes remaining in the game, Puerto Rico enjoyed a seven-point lead. But with successful full court pressure, Canada cut the difference to two. Puerto Rico turned over the ball with 22 seconds left on the clock and gave Canada the final shot attempt to put the game into overtime. But a miss has put Puerto Rico into the 2003 world championships and not Canada. Canada shot only 29% from the floor while Puerto Rico shot 52%. Levon Kendall led Canada with a double-double – 20 Points and 11 rebounds. Patrick Tatham followed with 16 points and five boards. Jemino Sobers finished with 11 points. “This is the second straight night we gave ourselves the opportunity to win the game in the last 20 seconds,” said coach Dave Crook. “Basketball can be a cruel game and we used up our luck with the two wins we had in our exhibition games last week.”