Quincy Miller hit a game-winning 3-pointer from the right corner with 25 seconds left and the USA U18 team held on for an 81-78 victory over Brazil in the gold medal game in San Antonio, Texas.
“It’s the best feeling in the world to hit the shot,” Miller said by phone. “I wanted to make it. We’re going home with the gold medal.”
Duke-bound point guard Kyrie Irving scored a team-high 21 points, posted 10 rebounds and dished out five assists and uncommitted guard Austin Rivers added 19 points.
“It feels awesome. Truly blessed to be a gold medalist,” the 6-3 Rivers, who is considering Duke, North Carolina and Florida, wrote by text.
Miller, an uncommitted 6-foot-10, 210-pound power forward from High Point (N.C.) Westchester Country Day who is considering a slew of high-majors, scored 11 points and pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds and Marquette-bound guard Vander Blue added 13 points. He also dished the pass to Miller on the game-winner.
Team USA outscored Brazil 23-15 in the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel led the team to gold.
“They played great,” Miller said of his teammates. “Kyrie is one of the great point guards I’ve ever played with. He’s a pass-first point guard but he can score when he needs to. Austin is one of the best scorers in the country right now.”
The 6-foot-3 Rivers was coming off a 35-point outing in the semifinal win over Canada in which he drained nine consecutive 3-pointers.
His 35 points broke the tournament record of 34 set by Calbert Chaney against Brazil in 1990. Three previous players had drained five 3-pointers in a game, Aaron Brooks (2002), Terry Dehere (1990) and Steve Lepore (1998).
“It was kind of funny,” Miller said of Rivers’ performance. “I never saw anybody score 3’s like that. That’s crazy.”
Asked how the team planned to celebrate, Miller said: “We’re just going to try to have fun.”
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