Arizona's Bennedict Mathurin bounced back from a rough U19 World Cup debut in style Sunday.
After struggling (and having Azuolas Tubelis block his dunk -- see play No. 4 here) in Canada's win over Lithuania on Saturday, Mathurin came back to score 30 points on 11 for 15 shooting in Canada's 100-75 win over Japan on Sunday in a FIBA U19 World Cup game in Daugavpils, Latvia.
Mathurin hit 6 of 9 3-pointers, including back-to-back shots while he exploded in the third quarter, and also had three rebounds and two assists over 30 minutes.
MontrΓ©alβs Benn Mathurin put on a show today at U19 @FIBA World Cup for π¨π¦ in a 100-75 win π―π΅. 30pts, 11/15 FG, 6/9 from downtown 3rebs 2assists 5/6 FTβs. This young man is special. Should be an #NBA lottery pick next year. @ArizonaMBB @Sam_Vecenie @DraftExpress @MattBabcock11 pic.twitter.com/NXGNExVzJ9
— Peter Yannopoulos (@PeteYannopoulos) July 4, 2021
Also Sunday, Tubelis had eight points and six rebounds in Lithuania's 78-73 win over Senegal while former UA wing Tibet Gorener had eight points in Turkey's 64-62 win over Australia.
In a night game Sunday in Riga, UA center Oumar Ballo had nine points on 4-for-12 shooting plus five rebounds for Mali in a 100-52 loss to USA.