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United States 83-76 Hungary

Finals bound!! In what ended up being a very close game, we hold strong at the end and secure the victory to move on to the World final! The game started out heavily in our favor, being up 18 late in the second quarter and going into halftime up 14. We fell apart for the entirety of the 3rd quarter, allowing them to get within 5 going into the 4th. They quickly tied up the game, where I proceeded to look away as I could not bear the pain any longer. I tuned in within the final minute when it became the FT game with us on top. Hoffman started out very hot, scoring 16 points in the first half on very efficient shooting. Southwood also had a fantastic game off the bench, shooting 6-11 with 14 points in just 14 total minutes. Great team win to move us on to the finals!

The other semi final saw a very close game between Spain and Lithuania. Spain held the 1 point lead but Lithuania drained a jump shot to take the lead with 8 seconds left. They proceeded to hold on, so we get Lithuania in the final. Lithuania conducted an impressive comeback this season after losing their first 3 games, and managed to squeeze into the playoffs as the 4 seed. They have a very strong roster, topped with a 100k salaried big who will be tough to contain. It will be a great game, we are going to practice hard this week in preparation for this matchup.

We are at the final step in our journey, let's finish strong!
Go USA!

United States 68-83 Lithuania

It pains me to make this post as I felt we had a great team that simply fell short in the final game of the season. Lithuania chose some ballsy tactics which ended up working out for them, had I run just about any other offense we would likely be holding our 4th gold medal in a row. The way the game played out was interesting and unfortunate, as we got completely blown out in the 2nd quarter after winning the first. We outplayed them for 3/4 of the game, but the 2nd quarter massacre was simply too much to overcome. Our offense struggled mightily in this game, their defensive choice along with their enthusiasm advantage were the crucial factors to this game. I think talent wise we certainly either neck and neck with them or even slightly better, but sometimes that is not enough and this is one of those times. We take home a silver medal in this season's Worlds championship.

Despite the loss there are a few remarkable records that I would like to highlight. Rodney Parham is now the all time leading scorer for USA u21, 2nd on the all time rebounding list, as well as 2nd on the single season rebounding list. He was a true staple to the team these past 2 seasons, and commanded the court when he was in the game. Rod Williamson also ends up 5th on the all time rebounding list. They were a dynamic duo that gave the competition some serious problems throughout the past 2 seasons and now their names go into the record books.

That is a wrap for this season. Thank you to all managers for training and keeping game shapes well. As we sit at the end of my 2nd tenure has coach, I hold my 3 gold medals along with this silver. Despite the silver not being the desired result, it is still a good overall result to the season and I am ok with 4 medals in 4 seasons. My plan is to come back as coach once again, despite the silver being a good result I am not content, and I need to be back on top of the Worlds stage. Lets go get us some more golds