Dubai // For the first half of the first semi-final of the Fiba Under 17 World Championship on Friday evening, the United States title run was in doubt.
The Americans were confounded and frustrated by Serbia for the first 24 minutes of the clash at Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai.
Creative distribution from point guard Stefan Peno, accurate three-point shooting and opportunistic rebounding had the US on the defensive and, at one point in the second quarter, Serbia led by two.
Down by three points at half-time, it seemed an incredibly unlikely upset might be possible.
The second half was a different story.
“We were used to finishing the game in the first half, “ said US team captain Malik Newman, who led the team with 15 points. “But they stuck around and fought hard.”
The Americans ran up a 50-32 advantage in the second half to win 89-68 and reach their third gold-medal game in as many trips to the U17 worlds.
The Americans’ physical advantage finally began to overwhelm Serbia in the third quarter and, as Peno was bottled up, the three-pointers stopped falling and rebounds were harder to come by.
The US finished with a 58-39 rebound edge.
But it was not easy against a nation who beat the US for the gold medal at the 2007 Under 19 Championship.
“We knew coming in it would be a tough test. We told our kids Serbia has a history of giving the US a lot of trouble, [and] going back to the mid-2000s, games like this Serbia has won,” US coach Don Showalter said. “Their team has been preparing for us for the past couple of years.
“But I thought our kids were prepared mentally and physically for a knock-down, tough game.”
Harry Giles had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the US, Diamond Stone provided 12 and eight, and Caleb Swanigan had 11 and eight.
Peno led Serbia with 18 points and four assists. Nikola Rakicevic scored 19 and Vojilsav Stojanovic added 18.
On Saturday at 9pm at Hamdan, the Americans will finally play for the gold medal they have been marching towards for the past eight days.
“We’re not wasting our time coming out here, all those days in training camp and practices,” Newman said. “All the guys have passion when they’re playing, and the gold medal is what we came down here for.
“Anything other than that, then we came here for no reason.”
Their opponents will be Australia, who at one time trailed 40-28 in their semi-final but mounted a furious second-half comeback to go to overtime and overtake Spain for a place in the final with an 80-74 victory.
It is a rematch of the 2012 Under 17 World Championship final, when the Americans beat Australia 95-62 in the final in Lithuania.
Isaac Humphries led the Aussies with 22 points and captain Tom Wilson, who had 13 points and a team-best 11 rebounds overall, scored four points in the final 23 seconds to bring Australia even and force overtime.
“It’s two years in the making for us,” Australia coach Mark Watkins said. “It’s a chance for us, as a country, for a little bit of redemption.
“For me, we haven’t played the US all tournament, so we want to have a crack at them.
“Everyone else has had a crack and failed – well, big time finals can do certain things and things can happen in finals.”
It is an imposing task for the Australians. If they do pull it out, look for a buzzer-beating, one-point victory.
Watkins said it came to him in a dream before the tournament.
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