Arizona's Bennedict Mathurin poured in 31 points on 11 for 15 shooting to lead Canada to a 101-92 win over Serbia in the bronze medal game of the FIBA U19 World Cup on Sunday in Riga, Latvia.
Mathurin, who also hit 9 of 10 free throws, hit the 30-point barrier for the second time in the seven-game event. He also had 30 on 11-for-15 shooting against Japan in his second World Cup game, and finished the event as the seventh-leading scorer with an average of 16.1 points.
Mathurin was not messing around today putting down a game high 31 points🥶 #FIBAU19 pic.twitter.com/0oC11bHoH3
— Canada Basketball (@CanBball) July 11, 2021
USA picked up the U19 World Cup gold medal later Sunday with an 83-81 win over France, with Jaden Ivey and Kenneth Lofton Jr. picking up 16 points each.
Arizona's other two participants in the World Cup also finished with big efforts Sunday.
Azuolas Tubelis also finished as one of the events top producers after collecting 20 points and 15 rebounds in Lithuania's 86-81 loss to Spain in the fifth place game.
With two games left to play Sunday evening in Latvia, Tubelis was the fifth-leading scorer with an average of 16.6 points and tied with UA teammate Oumar Ballo of Mali for the fourth spot in rebounding (8.9).
Ballo collected 13 points and nine rebounds during his final game Sunday, leading Mali to a 95-92 win over Puerto Rico. Mali finished 2-5 after losing its first five games.
