SANTIAGO, Chile (Oct. 22, 2023) – The United States advanced to the 3x3 basketball semifinals of the 2023 Pan American Games on Sunday at Estadio Español in Santiago, Chile. The USA 3x3 Men’s and Women’s Pan American Teams finished atop their pool and won their respective quarterfinal matchups in pursuit of defending their 2019 gold medals.
The women advanced to the quarterfinals after handling Mexico 21-9, which wrapped up pool play. The Americans had a significant size advantage and were able to score at the rim effectively. Azurá Stevens scored a game-high seven points on 6-of-7 shooting. Blake Dietrick had six points while Cierra Burdick added five. The U.S. had two 6-1 runs in the contest to secure the win.
The U.S. put together a complete performance in the quarterfinal matchup with Venezuela. After scoring 19 seconds into the game, Venezuela was then held without a basket until the 5:19 mark. The USA offense powered to an 11-1 lead entering the first media timeout and saw it grow to 17-6 by the second.
Lexie Hull hit a pair of 2-pointers and Stevens (six points) scored the game-ending bucket (21-6) with 3:32 remaining to secure a berth into the semifinals. Dietrick led all scorers with nine points.
On the men’s side, the Americans had to rally to defeat Mexico in their pool play finale.
The Mexicans built a 7-1 lead to open the game and would hold the advantage until the 5:08 mark. A Kareem Maddox layup tied the game at 12 but the USA would find themselves trailing 18-16 with 3:03 left in the game. Canyon Barry then went on his own 3-0 run to give the U.S. the lead (19-18) with just over two minutes remaining. A few possessions later, Jimmer Fredette hit a step-back 2-pointer to seal the win. He finished with 10 points with Barry’s six and Maddox’s five totaling the 21-18 final score in favor of the red, white and blue.
The U.S. faced a physical Uruguay team in their quarterfinal. Both teams were in foul trouble midway through the contest, but the Americans converted offensively while Uruguay’s offense stalled. Dylan Travis scored six in the game, including three in a row as part of a 10-2 American run. The USA shot 2-of-2 from the free-throw line while Uruguay went 4-for-8.
Fredette (nine points) ended the game with another step-back 2-pointer, his fourth from long range in the game. The game ended with 1:36 left on the clock.
Both American squads have the opportunity to play for the gold medal on Monday. The women face host nation Chile in their semifinal at 3:00 p.m. ET. The other side of the bracket features Colombia and Puerto Rico at 3:30 p.m. ET. The men take on Trinidad and Tobago at 4:00 p.m. ET with the winning team taking on the winner of Venezuela and Chile (4:30 p.m. ET).
The women’s gold medal game is set for 6:30 p.m. ET with the men’s championship immediately following at 7:00 p.m. ET.
The 2023 Pan American Games will stream for free on the Panam Sports Channel mobile and television application, panamsportschannel.org and YouTube.com/Panamsports. For more information on the Pan American Games, click here.
Different than 5-on-5, 3x3 is played on a half-court with a 10-minute game clock and 12-second shot clock. Play is continuous, as teams “clear” the ball behind the 2-point line following a made basket, defensive rebound or steal. The first team to score 21 points via 1-point field goals or 2-pointers behind the arc is victorious; or if time expires then the team leading wins.