ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - Only eight teams are left with dreams of winning the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026 after the Round of 16. The first round of knockout games once again provided some amazing individual performances.
Here are your top five performers from the Round of 16.
Puerto Rico withstood a major battle from Côte d'Ivoire to win 101-85 and reach the Quarter-Finals in a great showing from DJ Gaines. The Puerto Rican guard poured in 36 points to go with 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 6 steals for an efficiency of 40.
At the other end of that game, Raphael Ouedraogo had a monster game for the Africans with 19 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks for an efficiency of 36.
Türkiye were given all they could handle by Venezuela and pulled out the nailbiting 78-73 victory to reach the Quarter-Finals. And Darius Karutasu played a massive role in the win with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 1 block for an efficiency of 38.
Nikola Kusturica flashed his overall superb game for Serbia in the 121-91 win over New Zealand with 27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block for an efficiency of 31.
The dominant 141-85 USA win over Cameroon was highlighted by Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, who collected 19 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals in registering an efficiency of 28.
FIBA