MIAMI (AP) — Zimmer Fredette knows what it’s like to win a 3×3 gold medal in USA Basketball.
He hopes it will be the first of many.
Fredette’s two pointer — That’s what a shot over the arc is worth in a 3v3 game — Sunday night’s FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup title game is just one game away from beating Puerto Rico 21-18 Scored the winning goal at :07. .
“Great,” said Fredette. “It’s a lot of fun to win a gold medal and bring it back to America. These guys are good. They play well. They play hard. We gotta play against a really good basketball team.” I had to, and I’m glad we got the win.”
Kareem Maddox led the US with nine points in the title game. Fredette and Canyon Barry led the Americans in scoring before he was named MVP of the tournament, with each he scored five points and Dylan Travis scored his two for America.
Miami Hurricanes alum Guillermo Diaz, who briefly played in the NBA for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2007-08, led Puerto Rico by 6 points. In 3×3, the basket was worth 1 to him and the shot over the arc was worth 2 to him. A 10-minute game that ends when time runs out or when a team reaches 21, whichever comes first.
The USA won the weekend 5-0. The American went 2-2 in the men’s event of the 3×3 AmeriCup after winning the title with his 5-0 victory in the first event last year. Barry and Maddox were also part of that team. .
“We found a way to win,” Fredette said. “That’s what good teams do.”
Fredette has played for five NBA teams, was named AP University Player of the Year in 2011 as a BYU senior, and has played internationally in Greece and China. He has a 3×3 challenge with the 2024 Paris Olympics in mind. I got quite an education on Sunday about how different outdoor games can be.
A temporary tournament court has been set up in the arena square where the Miami Heat play their home games. Most of the square has a roof, but no walls. This meant that the wind blowing in from Biscayne Bay was affecting the shoot. Then, just before the men’s and women’s gold medal games began, storm clouds rolled in.
The start of the women’s gold medal game was delayed by a brief downpour — Canada beat Brazil for the title — the men’s title game was delayed by 20 minutes as more rain fell and the wind blew over the playing surface .
Fans ran for cover. a tarp was spread out to cover part of the courtOver a dozen workers used mops and towels to try and get the moisture up and the game back on. And maybe it was the humidity that caused the oversized scoreboard in the right corner of the floor to go dark for several minutes when the match resumed.
“We had a little bit of everything,” Fredette said.
And finally, he left gold.
“Archers shoot,” said Fredette.
US Women’s Third
The US women’s team won the bronze medal at the Americap, beating Colombia 17-13 in the third place match after losing 17-15 to eventual champions Canada in the semifinals.
The Americans were 4-1 in the tournament.
US coach Jennifer Rizzotti said, “From the first point to the last point of the tournament, it’s much better.” It’s very good for us that the players got the chance to play.”
Narissa Smith, Camille Zimmerman, Lexi Hull and Veronica Barton represented the United States at the event.
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