LAUSANNE (Switzerland) - United States moved one victory from their mission of reclaiming the title by rolling past New Zealand to reach the Final of the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025 and a date with Germany.
The record eight-time U19 world champions had no trouble with New Zealand, who were making their maiden appearance in the Semi-Finals in the competition. USA ended up winning 120-61 - setting a new scoring record.
The 120 points eclipsed the previous mark for the most scored in a FIBA U19 World Cup Semi-Finals. The Americans beat Lithuania 100-60 in the 2013 Semis and then walloped Lithuania 102-67 in the 2019 Semi-Finals.
Caleb Holt was USA's leading scorer with 20 points as six USA players hit in double figures, including Mikel Brown tallying 11 points and 6 assists.
United States did not waste any time and built an 18-point lead after the first quarter against New Zealand. The Junior Tall Blacks never could get any kind of rhythm going, trailing 55-26 at halftime. And the second half was mostly one-way traffic for the Americans.
"It's always super fun winning, especially wearing USA on your chest. We have one more tomorrow so we are hoping to take care of business," said Nik Khamenia, who scored 13 points.
"We know how good we are and what we are capable of. I think with yesterday's game (a 108-102 win over Canada), they are probably the most similar team to ourselves that we will see. It was good for us for sure. It was a wake-up call. We watched some video to work on some small details. Hopefully we can capitalize again tomorrow."
New Zealand still have a chance to make history with a matchup against Slovenia in the Third Place Game. A victory on the final day would mean the Oceania's best-ever finish in a FIBA competition.
The only team standing in USA's way now is Germany in the Final.
USA have only played Germany twice at the youth level - both of them in this competition. The first game was an 88-87 overtime victory for Germany in the Semi-Final group stage in 1983. The Americans beat Germany 81-59 in the Quarter-Finals of the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup.
United States have now averaged 115.5 points in the tournament and are on track to become the highest scoring team in FIBA U19 World Cup history. They would also be just fifth team to score at least 100 points per game in the tournament.
The top spot all-time belongs to the legendary Yugoslavia team from 1987, which included the likes of Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, Vlade Divac and Sasa Djordjevic and poured in 108.9 points per game.
All-time best team scoring averages at the U19 World Cup
| Team | Year | Scoring average | Final Standings |
1. | Yugoslavia | 1987 | 108.9 | Champion |
2. | Soviet Union | 1991 | 105.6 | 9th |
3. | USA | 1979 | 104.7 | Champion |
4. | USA | 2019 | 100.9 | Champion |
FIBA