Advertisement
Varsity Times Insider

Boys’ basketball: It’s USA all the way at Adidas Nations

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ben Bolch
By Ben Bolch
Staff WriterFollow
Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

In a development that could bode well for the United States’ gold-medal basketball hopes in the 2016 Olympics and beyond, the four USA teams competing in the Adidas Nations tournament at Cal State Dominguez Hills all advanced to the championship and third-place games.

Ultimately, USA 2012 Blue prevailed, defeateing USA 2013 Red, 114-107, to win the title. Forward Sam Dekker of Sheboygan, Wis., scored 24 points for USA 2012 Blue, which played the entire tournament without consensus No. 1 player Shabazz Muhammad (sprained ankle). Mater Dei’s Shaqquan Aaron had four points and four rebounds for USA 2013 Red.

Advertisement

Mater Dei’s Xavier Johnson had a monster game for USA 2012 Red in the third-place game, scoring 28 points on nine-for-15 shooting during a 130-108 victory over USA 2013 Blue. Orange Lutheran guard Gabe York had 23 points, making 10 of 17 shots, for USA 2012 Red. Crenshaw’s Isaac Hamilton scored a team-high 27 points for USA 2013 Blue, making 11 of 14 shots overall and five of six from beyond the three-point arc.

York finished with a tournament-high average of 24.3 points.

--Ben Bolch

Varsity Times Insider
Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

Advertisement