CANBERRA (Australia) - Will Hamilton was named the Most Valuable Player award at the FIBA U15 Oceania Cup after an impressive campaign with undefeated Australia.
The 1.93M (6'4") forward high-flyer bagged the award after helping Australia win the competition for a third straight time.
In the Final against New Zealand, Hamilton scored a personal competition-high 22 points while also getting 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block for an efficiency rating of 30. He scored efficiently as well, shooting 57.1 percent from the field.
Throughout the entire competition, Hamilton ranked fifth in scoring among all players with 18.3 points per game while also averaging 6.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per contest.
Hamilton joined an All-Star Five crew that included teammate Antonio Browne, New Zealand's Lawson Pryor, Samoa's Leevae McDonald, and Tonga's Troy Kaufusi.
Browne was an all-around threat for Australia, leading the team in minutes played per game to go on and average 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists (2nd among all players), and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 60.9 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 83.3 percent from the charity strip.
Pryor was New Zealand's sharpshooter, knocking down at least a three-point shot in each game. He'd score double-digits in all games to average 19.4 points per contest, good for fourth among all players. The 1.87M (6'2") guard was brilliant in the Semi-Finals for New Zealand when he dropped 33 points on 6 three-point shots, while also getting 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
Samoa's Leevae McDonald was one of the most important part of the team's run back to the podium. He averaged 17.6 points per game, 7th among all players, while shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc. McDonald was also a force on the defensive end, swiping 3.6 steals per game, landing among the top five for that category. In the Third-Place game, McDonald scored a personal competition-high 22 points and also recorded 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 6 steals.
Last but not least was Tonga's Troy Kaufusi who had one of the most spectacular individual campaigns in the competition. With averages of 26.6 points, 7.0 assists, and 4.4 steals per game, Kaufusi stood out as the leader among all players in each category. He was also tied for second in Efficiency rating with 25.8 per game. Kaufusi recorded two triple-doubles early in the Group Phase, and also notched the competition single-game high of 46 points in the Semi-Finals clash against New Zealand.
Fiji's Semi Kuboutawa was also presented with the FIBA Fair Play Award.
FIBA