Bronze for Canada at under-17 championships

Canada finished the first under-17 boys world basketball championships in dramatic _ and successful _ fashion.

Olivier Hanlan made a key three-pointer and two clutch free throws and Dyshawn Pierre made a foul shot with four seconds left as Canada rallied in the final half minute to beat Lithuania 83-81 and win the bronze medal at the world championships in Hamburg, Germany on Sunday.

We'lll get more once we get to talk to the coach and players later Sunday but the stunning rally capped an outstanding tournament for the Canadian teens.

Down four with 44 seconds left, Hanlan hit a three-pointer to pull Canada within one and after getting stop on Lithuania's subsequent possession, Hanlan was fouled with 13 seconds left and made two free throws to put Canada up by one.

After other Lithuania miss, Pierre was fouled with four seconds left, making the second of his two shots for the final margin of victory.

Playing with key forward Anthony Bennett, who sat out with an injury, Canada got production of several players Hanlan had 15 points, Junior Lomomba had 14, Negus Webster-Chan and Kevin Pangos both had 13 and Anthony Wiggins and Pierre each had 12.

Comments

[Kevin]

Thanks for keeping up with what is on the court too Doug.

[dallas]

Thanks Doug,

And Thanks Team Canada for representing us so well and playing hard. Basketball is on the rise in Canada.

[Joe]

Great job for the young Canadian fellows. Basketball is an up and coming sport in Canada. Wouldn't be surprised to see our national team develop and some of our guys making it to the NBA.

Doug,
How much credit will Maurizio Gheradini get in helping to developing our national program?

Blogger's note: A fair amount

[Alex H]

Would it be fair to say that the success of Steve Nash, both internationally and in the NBA over the last 10 years, has contributed to the gravitation of Canadian youth toward basketball? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is the first time in the history of Canadian basketball that youth have had a true home-grown superstar to look up to as an example that Canadians can compete at the highest level.

[Lawrence]

I'm calling it LeBryaneWosh. Pass it on.

[Avery Mason]

Congrats to Team Canada. That is a great outcome - they should be extremely proud and use the success as a confidence booster to drive future success.

[GM]

There was some talk earlier this off-season about Gheradini possibly getting the GM position in New Jersey. If he moves to another NBA team some day, will he keep his role with the Canadian team or is that tied directly to his job with the Raptors?

Blogger's note: It's not tied directly, no. And I know he really enjoys keeping is hand in the international game.

[Baljit]

Congratulations Team Canada on your excellent results you made us all very proud ...well done.

[Joey]

We got Barbosa?! Fantastic!!

[AJR]

Doug,
I read a note somewhere that questions are being raised about the circumstances of the “3 kings” landing in Miami.
If, hypothetically, Wade told Riley somewhere after 2008 that he was confident that both Bosh and Lebron would likely sign with the Heat if he managed to open up the cap space, largely impacting Riley’s trade activity with insider information…and if Wade was essentially negotiating with Bosh and Wade and passing that information back to Riley….
….would that constitute tampering?

[Scott]

Congrats to the U-17 Team. With the junoir men's squad looking pretty strong as well I hope someone at Basketball Canada is working on finding a place for all this talent to to play after their NCAA/CIS careers end. Very few will make the NBA, and its getting harder for non-europeans to make rosters Europe. We've got to have post-college development path for these kids. Not sure what the best option would be. A domestic league dosen't sound viable. Should Basketball Canada operate 1 or 2 D-League teams stocked with Canadians? I don't know the solution is, but the problem is obvious and until its addressed we won't be able to compete consistently at the sr. level.