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USA U18 team gets past Dominican Republic in FIBA Americas semis, advance to gold-medal game against Canada

Stanley Johnson, Aaron Gordon

Mater Dei forward Stanley Johnson, left, spins around Archbishop Mitty forward Aaron Gordon as he goes to the basket during the second quarter of the CIF boys open division state high school basketball championship game in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, March 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

AP

The USA U18 team continues to win handily at the FIBA Americas U18 Tournament, as the Americans advanced to the gold-medal game with a 90-56 Monday night win over the Dominican Republic in the semifinals.

Five players finished in double-figures for Billy Donovan’s ballclub, led by Arizona commit Stanley Johnson’s 15 points and seven rebounds. Duke commit Tyus Jones scored all 14 of his points in the first half, as the point guard showed off his advanced floater game, and he also led the Americans with seven assists.

Allonzo Trier, an uncommitted 2015 prospect, finished with 13 points, while 2015 Duke commit Luke Kennard added 11 points and 2015 uncommitted point guard Jalen Brunson added 10 points.

The American defense suffocated the Dominican Republic for much of the evening as the Dominicans were held to 31 percent shooting from the field and 12 percent three-point shooting. Team USA also forced 21 Dominican turnovers that led to 21 points.

The Dominican Republic was paced by 2015 prospect and forward Weisner Perez, who finished with 11 points off-the-bench. Perez attends Morton High School in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, Illinois and has multiple low-to-mid major scholarship offers.

The American win now sets up a Tuesday night gold-medal game between the Americans and Canada, who defeated Argentina, 91-82 in overtime earlier on Monday evening. The FIBA Americas gold-medal game will begin at 7:30 p.m. EST and be broadcast on the FIBA Americas website and on YouTube.

The Canadians will give Team USA their stiffest competition yet as they feature two Rivals top 100 prospects in the 2015 class in Dillon Brooks and Teki Gill-Caesar. Brooks and Gill-Caesar combined for 53 points in the win over Argentina and won’t back down from the star-studded American team. Canada is also anchored down low by Harvard incoming freshman Chris Egi.

Here is the box score for Team USA for Monday night’s win:

usa semifinals

(FIBA Americas)

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