In last year's FIBA U-18 World Championships and the previous year's U-17 tournament, Team Canada took home the bronze medal behind the play of Andrew Wiggins. But Canada received a blow this year when Wiggins decided to practice with Kansas rather than compete internationally. This left Trey Lyles, Tyler Ennis McIntyre, and Xavier Rathan-Mayes to carry the team.
The U-19 World Championships are being held in Prague, and Canada dropped their first two games. In the opener they lost 81-70 to Spain. In the 2nd game they lost 79-66 to Croatia.
Today, they faced an elimination game vs Korea.
The format involves 16 teams divided into four pods. The top three teams in each pod advance to the next round. Canada and Korea were both 0-2 entering the game.
In today's game Canada held a slim four point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Then they finally turned it on and looked like the team we were expecting. They outscored Korea 28-14 in the quarter, and coasted to a 93-75 win. Tyler Ennis McIntyre (Syracuse) led the way with 24 points and 4 assists. Trey Lyles (uncommitted) had 23 points and 11 rebounds. And Xavier Rathan-Mayes had 11 points and 5 rebounds.
