Australia come back for USA U17 Final repeat

DUBAI (FIBA U17 World Championship) - Let’s do it all over again! Australia put together a magical comeback to beat Spain, 80-74, in overtime and will square off against the United States in Saturday's Final of the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship Final after the two-time reigning undefeated champions were given a real fight against Serbia before prevailing 89-68.

The Aussies and Americans battled in the 2012 FIBA U17 Worlds final with the USA winning 95-62 for a second crown.

Australia v Spain
Tom Wilson had two lay-ups after steals in the final 35 seconds as the Aussies scored the final eight points in the last two minutes of regulation to force the extra session.

Isaac Humphries led the way again for Australia with 22 points, eight rebounds, five blocks, two assists and two steals. Wilson had 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Dejan Vasiljevic scored 14 points and Harry Frohling had a dozen.

Spain committed seven of their 12 turnovers in the final seven minutes of the game and will face off against Serbia in the Third-Place game - in a repeat of the 2013 U16 European Championship Final which Spain won in overtime. Jaume Sorolla had 15 points to lead Spain.

Australia went 0-for-6 from long range in the first quarter and shot just 25 percent in the first 10 minutes as Spain led 21-11.

Spain's lead swelled to 22 points at 40-18, but Froling knocked down two long balls late in the second quarter to cut the gap to 43-32 at the break.

The Australians got the deficit down to five at 43-38 but Spain pushed it back to 55-45 before it was a 55-49 lead after 30 minutes.

Vasiljevic missed a three which would have tied the game at 60-60 and Spain led 67-59 with two minutes left. But the Australians put the pressure on their opponents who turned the ball over in the final minute, leading to two Wilson baskets that forced the game into overtime, where Spain committed four turnovers to hand over the victory to Australia.

USA v Serbia
The USA took advantage of their depth to wear down Serbia and reach the Final, moving within a win away from their third straight title.

The final score was not indicative of how hard the two-time undefeated reigning champs had to work to get the victory.

Four Americans scored in double figures led by 15 points from Malik Newman while Harry Giles collected 10 points and 12 rebounds for the USA.

Nikola Rakicevic paced the Serbs with 19 points while Stefan Peno had 18 points, four assists and three rebounds and Vojislav Stojanovic also had 18.

Serbia missed a number of lay-ups and open looks in the first quarter as USA opened a 17-7 lead. The Serbs made just 4 of 23 shots in the first quarter, trailing 24-16 after 10 minutes.

Serbia eventually got some of their shots to fall and grabbed the lead at 31-29. The Americans led just 39-36 going into the locker room.

The USA depth began to show in the third quarter and Serbia were getting worn down, making just 5 of 19 shots in the third quarter.

The Americans were up 59-48 after 30 minutes and little in the fourth as the Americans pushed the lead out to 23 points.

Meanwhile, in the Classification Games 5-8, Puerto Rico beat France 70-63 and Canada beat China 92-81. Puerto Rico will take on Canada for fifth place and France square off against China for seventh on Saturday.

In the Classification Games 9-16 at Al Shabab Arena, Argentina knocked off Greece 65-54 to move into the game for ninth place against Italy, who beat Angola 77-71. Greece and Angola will play for 11th place.

After beating Philippines 92-67, Egypt hope to grab 13th place against Japan, who eased past United Arab Emirates (UAE) 91-49. Philippines and UAE will square off for 15th place.

FIBA