Maryland's Huerter, Tomaic Set To Compete For USA, Spain
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Rising Maryland sophomore Kevin Huerter has accepted an invitation to attend the 2017 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Cup Team training camp June 18-25 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Freshman Joshua Tomaic will also compete at the U19 World Cup for Spain when the tournament tips off in Cairo, Egypt from July 1-9.
Huerter, a native of Clifton Park, N.Y., won a gold medal as a member of the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championships, joining Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon who served as assistant coach on the team. He had a team-high 14 points to lead Team USA to a win over Chile, 70-50, to advance to the semifinals and averaged 6.8 points, 1.6 rebounds and one steal in five games.
As the 2013 and 2015 FIBA U19 World Champion, the United States will look for a third-consecutive gold medal at the U19 World Cup. FIBA conducted the draw on Feb. 11 in Cairo, Egypt, and announced the four preliminary round groupings. The United States was drawn into Group D for preliminary round games and will open against Iran on July 1, face Angola on July 2 and will cap preliminary round action versus Italy on July 4 (game times are to be determined).
Tomaic and Spain were drawn into Group C and will face Japan on July 1, Canada on July 2 and Mali on July 4. A redshirt freshman from Lanzarote (Canary Islands), Spain (Canarias Basketball Academy), Tomaic averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds per game for the CBA U18 team that placed fifth in the Spanish National Championships.
Following the preliminary round, all 16 teams will be seeded according to group play results, and will advance to the July 5 round of 16. Winners will advance to the July 7 medal quarterfinals, while the remaining teams will continue playing out for classification. The medal semifinals will be held July 8, and the gold and bronze medal games are slated for July 9.
Now titled the FIBA U19 World Cup and played every two years, the event originally was known as the FIBA Junior World Championship from 1979 through 2003 and as the FIBA U19 World Championship from 2005-2009, and it was played every four years from 1979 through 2007.
