Mannheim, Germany – Point guard Federico Mussini led Italy to its first Albert Schweitzer Tournament championship since 1983 as the Italians topped the USA 86-73. Mussini finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists as Italy outscored the USA by 13 points in the final quarter. Wisconsin recruit Ethan Happ, who was named tournament MVP after the game, scored 20 points to go along with 11 rebounds in the defeat.
The USA had the advantage in the first half, led by Happ and Mike Williams and took a four-point lead after the first quarter (26-22). Defense was the tone in the second stanza as the USA went into halftime with a 41-35 lead.
The game turned in the first minutes of the third quarter as the USA went scoreless for four minutes. That’s when Mussini took over the game, leading Italy on a 14-point run to take a 49-41 lead. Williams then got hot for the Americans, who went on a 7-point run of their own to cut the lead to one at 49-48. The USA’s Scott Lindsey hit a last second half-court three-pointer to tie the game at 61 after three quarters.
Italy took control in the final stanza, limiting the USA to 12 points while Mussini continued to make the important plays. The big play was a steal and layup that gave Italy a five-point lead. Andrea Picarelli’ s three-pointer put the game out of reach at 81-73 and the Italians scored the last five points of the game.
The USA shot only 5-of-23 on three-pointers and were forced into 20 turnovers, five more than Italy. The Italians connected on 10-of-27 from long distance and PG Mussini only committed two turnovers.
Italy: Severini (3), Merella (0), Mastellari (DNP), Lupusor (0), Spera (6), Picarelli (10), La Torre (6), Mussini (20), Flaccadori (19), Cacace (5), Mascolo (0), Donzelli (17)
USA:Shavar Newkirk (13), Austin White (10), Connor O‘Hearn (0), Kahlil Garnes (0), Mike Williams (17), Tim Delaney (1), Kory Kuenstling (0), Brock Miller (0), Elijah Burns (7), Ethan Happ (20), Scott Lindsey (5), Ross Gerber (0)
Led by 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists from Stefan Lazarevic, Serbia took the bronze medal with a 76-70 win over Turkey. Furkan Korkmaz scored 14 points for Turkey. Danilo Ostojic added 16 points and seven rebounds while playing a team high 36 minutes for the winners.
We will be posting our All-Tournament teams later today.
Erik Olson is an Assistant Coach for the USA Select team at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament. Thanks to the AST for the photos. You can subscribe to our RSS feed from the upper right corner of our home page, follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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