CAN - U18 men's team falls to Serbia

TORONTO (FIBA Americas U18 Championship) - Canada's Junior (Under 18) Men's basketball team opened their exhibition series at the Global Games in Dallas, Texas today with a 98-69 loss to Serbia.

Ontario guard Devoe Joseph paced Canada with 21 points and three rebounds in the loss. Fellow Ontarian Scott Brittain was Canada's other double-digit scorer with 10 points, netted all in the first half.

Canada opened the first quarter scoring a quarter-high 25 points on the strength of their aggressive shooting. However, Canada had trouble holding the physical Serbians off the boards, allowing them to score 33 first-quarter points and take the early lead.

Serbia's aggressiveness continued into the second quarter, and they outscored Canada 25-19 to take a 58-44 lead into the locker room at halftime. Canada held their own in rebounding, grabbing 22 balls compared to Serbia's 21, but Serbia moved the ball better, tallying 17 assists to Canada's eight.

Canada offence began to click in the third quarter and their defence clamped down, holding Serbia to just 15 points in the period. However, their great ball movement did not translate into points, scoring only 13 in the quarter.

Canada's scoring woes continued into the final frame as the team amassed 12 points giving Serbia a 29-point margin of victory.

"I am very pleased that everyone gave 100 per cent tonight. The team executed well and now we have to make a few technical adjustments to move forward in the right direction," commented Head Coach Greg Francis.

Kai Williams, Junior Cadougan and Chris Totter led Canada with six rebounds apiece while Robert Sacre tallied a team-high three assists.

"We could have boxed out better tonight," stated leading scorer Joseph. "We were trying to jump with those guys and they were taller and stronger than us. They are an older team, but I believe we are on the right path to qualify for the World Championship".

Serbia was led by 16 points from Milenko Tipic. Vladimir Golubovic tallied a game-high 12 rebounds and 15 points for the double-double.

Canada's next game is tomorrow against the USA. After the Global Games in Dallas wrap-up June 24th, the team will travel to San Antonio for the U18 FIBA America World Championship Qualification Tournament, June 28-July 2.

Canada has been placed in pool "B" for the qualification championship in San Antonio and will play preliminary round games against Puerto Rico (June 28th), Bahamas (June 29th) and Argentina (June 30th).

The United States, Uruguay, Brazil and the Dominican Republic are also competing in the tournament in pool "A".

The top two finishing teams from each group will advance to the July 1st medal semi-finals while the bottom two finishing teams will play in the classification semi-finals. The finals and the final classification games will be played on July 2nd.