ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - United States' dominance at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 rolled on with a 145-65 victory over New Zealand to reach the Final - leaving the Americans just one step from seven straight global cadet titles.
USA's all-time mark at the U17 World Cup improved to 50-0 as they completely overwhelmed the Oceania side, which was making its first appearance in the Semi-Finals.
Sharman White's USA team has been setting records all tournament and the Semi-Final was no different.
The 145 points scored were the most in a Semi-Finals game, topping the USA's 120-71 win over Canada in 2018. It was also just one point off the all-time mark of 146 points set earlier this tournament.
The winning margin of 80 was also the largest in Semi-Finals history - going well past the 51-point win in 2018. And the Americans' 69 points in the first half obliterated the previous record for most points in the first half of a Semi-Final of 54 points set in the same 2018 victory.
In addition, the Americans forced 37 New Zealand turnovers - the most in Semi-Finals, topping Canada's 32 in 2018. And USA swiped 27 steals, 11 more than they had in the same game.
Turning point
The game was still very early with USA up 8-5 when the Americans started to create more and more New Zealand turnovers and reeled off a 24-4 run to move ahead 32-9. The Oceania side was never challenge or even come close to winning a quarter.
Game hero
It is impossible to pick out one USA player as a game hero - four of the 12 Americans scored at least 18 points - but if a single player had to be chosen it could be Brandon McCoy Jr with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 6 steals in just 15 minutes.
Stats don't lie
New Zealand just could not handle the USA defense, committing 37 turnovers. Despite coming in as the second-best two-point shooting team in the tournament, New Zealand shot just 43.5 percent on two-pointers and made only 21.4 percent from long range.
They said:
"Our guys came out locked in, they were ready. We're getting really really close to our goal and they were not going to be denied. They were lazer-focused and ready to go. We had a game plan and they executed it above and beyond what we even planned. So a great job by them." - USA head coach Sharman White
FIBA