University of North Texas Athletics
Mitchell Game-High Boards Pace Canada Win
7/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
RIGA, Latvia - Tony Mitchell's game-high nine rebounds helped the U19 USA Basketball squad take down Canada 83-54 in second-round action on Monday.
Mitchell, a freshman forward at North Texas, added five points and three steals in 20 minutes. James Bell (Villanova) led the US scoring with 16 points and the Americans held Canada to 30.0 percent shooting.
"That's one thing I've noticed as this tournament has gone on, we've become a little bit more cohesive defensively," said US coach Paul Hewitt (George Mason). Guys can now take more chances because they know their teammate is going to be there to help them if something doesn't go right. So, I like the fact that we're playing together better defensively as the tournament has gone on."
The US takes on a Lithuania squad Tuesday morning that exploited an American squad in tune-up action last week. Mitchell led the US with eight boards in a 108-75 loss to Lithuania on June 29. Lithuania features 7-foot center Jonas Valanciunas, who was the No. 5 pick by the NBA's Toronto Raptors.
"You forget about five days ago and worry about your next game. We just have to play better, we didn't play well, and they played really well. If we're going to have a chance against them, we're going to have to play better and hope they don't play as well," Hewitt said.
