The Sixth Title For the USA
Spain failed to break the dominance of the USA at home. The Spaniards managed to offer a worthy resistance to their great rival. In the end, the USA won 79-67 in Malaga. In this way, the Americans won the world title for the sixth time in a row. Apart from this national team, no one has managed to win the title at this age so far. Mostly the Americans recorded convincing victories in the finals. The exception is this year’s final and the final against Australia eight years ago. The Americans have never lost in a world championship for this age group. So far, they have recorded as many as 44 consecutive victories.
Cooper Flagg as the hero of the final-FIBA U17 World Cup
In Spain, they beat their opponents by almost 40 points on average. In the final, it seemed that they could finally experience defeat. The home team had a 47-40 advantage during the third quarter. The Americans were on their knees and then the Spaniards entered a counter rhythm. The boys from Spain lost as many as eight balls! At the end of the quarter, the USA had a double-digit advantage, 62-51. Until the end, they just did the job, so there was no more excitement. The Americans went on a 22-4 run during the third quarter. Cooper Flagg was most deserving of that performance. Flagg almost achieved a triple-double. He scored 10 points and recorded 17 rebounds. Cooper added eight steals and 4 blocks.
Next to him, Jeremy Fears scored 17 points while Ron Holland had a 13-point performance. When it comes to the home team, Aday Mara and Hugo Gonzalez scored 16 points each. Izan Almansa, who scored 9 points and 15 rebounds in the final, was chosen as the MVP of the competition. The award was presented to him by the celebrated Pau Gasol. 7,000 fans could be satisfied because the Spaniards were playing in the final for the first time. They had as many as 25 turnovers, so the silver medal is still a reality for them.