Team USA's Wally Judge of Jacksonville, Fla., soars to the hoop around Jordan Vandenberg of Australia during the first half of the Albert Schweitzer Tournament's bronze-medal game on Saturday at the Mannheim Sports Arena. The U.S. lost to Australia, 87-67. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Team USA's Wally Judge of Jacksonville, Fla., soars to the hoop around Jordan Vandenberg of Australia during the first half of the Albert Schweitzer Tournament's bronze-medal game on Saturday at the Mannheim Sports Arena. The U.S. lost to Australia, 87-67. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Irving Walker of Team USA drives past Jorden Page of Australia. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Team USA's Cashmere Wright of Savannah, Ga., puts up a jumper over Ryan Broekhoff of Australia late in the second half. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
Team USA's Jeffree Withey of San Diego, Calif., scores an easy lay-up against Australia. (Ben Bloker / S&S)
MANNHEIM, Germany — Will power and manpower problems consigned the U.S. to an 87-67 defeat in Saturday’s bronze-medal game of the 24th Albert Schweitzer tournament for players aged 18 and younger.
“I really wanted to win a medal,” U.S. coach Lionel Hollins said after the contest, “but we couldn’t muster the mental capacity to do it. Australia was tired, too, but they came together mentally and we didn’t.”
Both teams were coming off tough semifinal losses Friday night. The U.S. fell to Turkey 83-79, to see their bid for a record 11th title here fall short, and Australia lost in overtime to unbeaten Greece 84-79.
Unlike the Americans, however, Australia was able to shrug off its disappointment. It jumped ahead 26-10 after one period and never looked back.
Much of the U.S. scoring problem could be traced to the absence of the tourney’s fourth-leading scorer, Travis Releford of Kansas City. He was out with a thigh bruise suffered Friday.
“He’s one of our go-to guys,” said Kansas State-bound Wally Judge, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’d have won that game if he’d been in there.”
In addition to the 17.6 points per game Releford provided in the team’s first six games, the U.S. sorely missed his defense, Hollins said.
“He was our best defender,” Hollins said. “You can put him on a player and just forget about that guy.”
The Americans trailed by as many as 22 before halftime before mounting a 20-11 run over the first 8:35 of the second half to cut the deficit to 59-53. A quick Aussie three-pointer, however, got the bronze-medalists started on a 28-14 game-ending run.
DODDS-Europe players Jeff Shelton of Rota and Brent Schuck of Ramstein played significant minutes Saturday. Shelton scored four points, grabbed three rebounds and stole the ball; Schuck scored three points and snared three rebounds.
“We wanted to make a name for the U.S. and get us back on top,” said Anthony Stover of La Canada, Calif., who snared six rebounds. “But last night’s game really took it out of us. We’re all really sore, really worn out.”
By finishing fourth, the Americans posted their best finish since taking third in 2002 in this biennial event, which brings together a team of U.S. all-stars and the junior national teams of 15 other countries. The U.S. finished fifth in 2004 and seventh in 2006.
“We’re going to look for tougher, more physical guys with multiple skills next time,” said Hollins, already looking ahead to 2010. “Guys who can go outside and inside against the international teams.”
Greece downed Turkey 96-82 in Saturday’s title game to win gold for the second time. The Greeks prevailed here in 2002.
Albert Schweitzer TournamentAustralia 87, U.S.A. 67 (Third place game Saturday at Mannheim)Australia..........26 22 18 21—87U.S.A...........10 21 24 12—67Scoring-Australia: Matthew Delladedova 20, Shane Harris-Tunks 17, Christian Salecich 15, Jorden Page 10, Brock Motum 8, Mitchell Young 8, Ellis Cody 6, Tyan Broekhof 3; U.S.A.: Jeffree Withey 16, Wally Judge 15, Irving Walker 10, Cashmere Wright 7, Oscar Bellfield 6, Brendan Lane 6, Jeff Shelton 4, Brent Schuck 3. Rebounding-Australia 49, U.S.A. 50 (Judge 10, Withey 8, Walker 6). Assists-Australia 18; U.S.A. 10 (Walker 6). Blocked shots-Australia 3; U.S.A. 12 (Withey 7)
Turkey 83, U.S.A. 79 (Semifinal Friday at Mannheim)U.S.A...........22 16 20 21—79Turkey..........23 17 26 17—83Scoring-U.S.A.: Irving Walker 30, Travis Releford 17, Cashmere Wright 13, Brendan Lane 6, Oscar Bellfield 5, Anthony Stover 3, Wally Judge 2, Erik Murphy 2, Jeffree Withey 1; Turkey: Deniz Kiligli 23, Melih Mahmutelu 20, Enes Kanter 13, Maksim Mutaf 11, Ibrahim Yildirim 8, Volkan Incekara 4, Furkan Aldmir 4. Rebounds-Turkey 48, U.S.A. 39 (Withey 9, Judge 8, Releford 7). Assists-U.S.A. 10 (Walker 3, Bellfield 2), Turkey 10. Fouls-U.S.A. 24, Turkey 24.
