USA/BRA - Miller lifts USA past Brazil in U18 final thriller

SAN ANTONIO (FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men) - Quincy Miller hit a three-pointer with 25 seconds left to help the USA beat Brazil 81-78 and take the gold medal at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

This is the fifth gold medal for the United States, who also won in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2006. For Brazil, this is their first silver medal after three bronze (1990, 1998 and 2006).

Kyrie Irving had 21 points, Austin Rivers - who had a USA record 35 points in the semi-final win over Canada - added 19, while Vander Blue chipped in with 13. Miller finished with 11 and grabbed 12 rebounds.

The host nation used a 15-0 run to lead 15-2 and looked as though they would cruise to victory only for Brazil to rally and cut the deficit to 22-15 by the end of the first quarter.

And the Brazilians would keep on coming in the second period, with Lucas Nogueira making his presence felt down low as they took a 35-34 lead at the break. The USA were held to just two points in the last five minutes of the first half.

Vander Blue's basket midway through the third quarter put the USA up 48-40 but Felipe Vezaro and Raul Neto led another charge by Brazil as they erased the deficit and took a 63-58 advantage into the fourth quarter.

They would stretch that lead to as many as nine, 67-58, before the USA fought back and edged in front 74-72 on Jereme Richmond's basket with 4:18 left to play.

Some accurate three-point shooting would keep Brazil in the game and the game was tied at 78 all when Neto connected from beyond the arc with 40 seconds to go.

Miller answered with a long bomb of his and Bruno Irigoyen missed a game-tying attempt.

Nogueira finished with game-highs of 22 points and 14 rebounds, Vezaro added 17 and Neto and Gabriel Aguirre had 11 each.

"I was really proud of our guys with how we dealt with adversity," USA head coach Jeff Capel said afterwards. "It's the first time we have experienced it here and it knocked us back a little bit early.

"I thought we did a good job of getting off to a good start in the second half. Give them credit, that Brazil team they have been together and fought and they made plays. At one point, we were down eight and we could have put our heads down but these guys hung together. They showed some toughness, they showed some grit and we started to get some stops on the defensive end and some guys made some great plays offensively."

Meanwhile, Kyle Wiltjer buried a three-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in overtime to give Canada an 86-83 win over Argentina in the bronze medal game.

Wiltjer finished with 28 points, seven of them coming in the extra period. Myck Kabongo added 15 points and 12 assists. Carlos Paredes had 28 to pace Argentina.

The USA, Brazil, Canada and Argentina have all qualified for next year's FIBA U19 World Championship for Men which will be held in Latvia from 30th June to 10th July.

FIBA Americas