ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - Mission accomplished for USA Basketball as they finished off another undefeated title run by beating Serbia 107-81 to win the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2026.
The Americans were ahead by 12 points at halftime but delivered the knockout punch late in the third quarter and scoring the first 14 points of the fourth quarter to improve to 58-0 all-time in the competition history.
CJ Rosser paced five Americans in double figures with 23 points, while Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje collected 20 points and 15 rebounds, and Beckham Black added 12 points and 10 assists.
Serbia had already clinched their best ever performance in the event's history by reaching the Final. Their only previous top-three showing was third place in 2014. Nikola Kusturica gave all he could in the loss with 37 points - setting a new record for points scored in a Final - to go with 9 rebounds.
USA had the first spurt in the opening frame with 13 straight points to lead 15-6. The cushion twice grew to 11 points - including a 30-19 gap after 10 minutes.
The Serbs scored the first five points of the second frame to trim the deficit to 30-24 and it was 34-29. The cushion swelled to 12 points at 43-31. Serbia tried to stay close and were only down 57-45 at the break.
Serbia would not let USA get too far away but USA scored eight straight points near the end of the third quarter to open a 81-57 margin. The score was 81-61 after 30 minutes and the Europeans did not get closer than points the rest of the way.
FIBA