France (6-3) took the bronze medal with a 75-67 victory over Brazil (4-5).

The U.S. now owns a 53-11 record in all-time FIBA U19 World Championship play, as well as a record three gold medals (1979, 1983, 1991) and three silvers (1987, 1999, 2007) in eight U19 Worlds.

"They have an outstanding team. They're strong, they're very big and they play very good defense," said USA and DePaul University head coach Jerry Wainwright. "We obviously lost the game at the free throw line. We had been shooting very well at the free throw line. By the nature of the draw and by some upsets we had some very tough games coming into this game. Yesterday's game against France was a very difficult game and I think it drained us. We played a little bit tighter today, we just didn't have the energy we usually have. We faltered at the free throw line, that has been a strength and certainly that hurt us because we missed 13 free throws in a five-point game. But rather than say anything about what we did, I commend Serbia, their players, their coaches."

"This is a big accomplishment, a lot of people didn't expect us to be here," said Jonny Flynn (Niagara Falls H.S. / Niagara Falls, N.Y.), who averaged 9.6 ppg. in the USA's nine games. "If you look at the big picture, this is second in the whole world, not just in any old tournament. This is second in the whole world. I learned a lot from this trip to Serbia and I'll miss the guys, the coaching staff, coach Wainwright showed my a lot, coach Flint, coach Hobbs, I learned a lot. I'm going to take a lot to Syracuse with that. I'm going to miss this whole experience."

The U.S. found itself in a similar situation as in the semifinal game against France, down 11-2 in the game's opening minutes. The USA couldn't get into a rhythm offensively and despite tenacious defense that forced Serbia to run down the shot clock, the hosts managed to get shot after shot off. During the second quarter Serbia strung together nine straight points to expand its lead to 42-23 with 3:19 to play. However, the USA never gave up and closed the gap to 43-30 by halftime.

Working non-stop to cut the deficit in the third quarter, the USA at 2:37 trailed by four, 51-47. However, the Serbian squad rallied for six points to put a 57-47 stamp on the period.

Still refusing to concede, Thompson scored six points in a USA 8-3 run to stab back to 60-55 with 7:42 remaining. The Americans nabbed a few steals as it continued its valiant comeback attempt and with 3:25 to play the red, white and blue was down by just three points, 65-62. Serbia came back with a three at 3:02 and continued to fight off any U.S. charge and with 42 ticks on the clock held a 70-64 advantage. Stephen Curry (Davidson / Charlotte, N.C.) hit a three and Beverley got a layup in the final 10 seconds, but Serbia hit all of its four tries from the stripe down the stretch and time expired with the hosts on top 74-69.

The USA, which went 11-of-24 from the stripe for 45.8 percent, was edged on the glass 38-33.

Mladen Jeremic was his team's leading scorer with 24 points, 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship MVP Milan Macvan finished with 19 and Stefan Stojacic scored 14.

Several USA U19 World Championship Team records fell or were tied during the tournament. In single game action, David Lighty (Ohio State / Cleveland, Ohio) and DeAndre Jordan (Bellaire Episcopal H.S. / Humble, Texas) each tied Brent Scott's high field goal percentage set with 8-of-8 versus Japan in 1991. Lighty went 8-of-8 against Lithuania (7/16/07) and Jordan connected on all eight attempts versus Mali (7/12/07). Jordan also tied Samaki Walker's U.S. record of four blocked shots against Mali. Walker had his four against Greece in 1995. The team tied the previous high for free throw percentage set in 2003 against Lithuania after shooting 92.3 percent (12-13 Fts) from the line against France (7/21/07) and tied the USA team record for blocked shots, originally set in 1995 against Greece, with 10 against Mali.

In overall tournament action Thompson is now ranked first among all-time USA blocked shots leaders with 13, while Beverley eclipsed the former USA steals mark of 20 set by Buck Johnson in 1983 with 31 and also moved up to No. 4 (tie) respectively on the USA's all-time assists chart with 29. The team's 843 point total eclipsed thee 742 scored in 1991, the 320 field goals made surpassed the 292 set in 1983, the squad shattered the previous steals record of 104 with 138, and set a new rebounding record with 374, 10 more than were grabbed in 2003.

Australia (8-1) finished in fifth place after beating Argentina (4-5) 83-59 and Turkey (4-5) took seventh with an 80-69 win over Spain (4-5).
Wainwright, who served as an assistant for the 2006 USA U18 National Team, is heading up the 2007 USA U19 World Championship Team coaching staff, and collegiate head coaches Bruiser Flint of Drexel University (Pa.) and George Washington University's (D.C.) Karl Hobbs are serving as assistant coaches.

2007 FIBA U19 World Championship Schedule & Results

Preliminary Round Pool Results

Group A W-L Group B W-L Group C W-L Group D W-L
1. France 3-0 1. United States 3-0 1. Australia 3-0 1. Spain 3-0
2. Brazil 2-1 2. Serbia 2-1 2. Turkey 2-1 2. Argentina 2-1
3. Lithuania 1-2 3. China 1-2 3. Canada 1-2 3. South Korea 1-2
4. Lebanon 0-3 4. Mali 0-3 4. Nigeria 0-3 4. Puerto Rico 0-3

Preliminary Round

Thursday, July 12
Brazil 83, Lebanon 67 France 85, Lithuania 82
Spain 91, Puerto Rico 89 Canada 82, Nigeria 60
Serbia 78, China 61 USA 118, Mali 56
Australia 77, Turkey 65 Argentina 91, S. Korea 85

Friday, July 13
Lithuania 105, Lebanon 69 France 98, Brazil 73
Australia 77, Nigeria 73 S. Korea 98, P. Rico 94
Serbia 70, Mali 47 Turkey 81, Canada 58
Spain 88, Argentina 68 USA 103, China 77

Saturday, July 14
Australia 81, Canada 70 Brazil 81, Lithuania 75
France 100, Lebanon 58 China 59, Mali 46
USA 82, Serbia78 Turkey 91, Nigeria 82
Spain 97, South Korea 80 Argentina 112, P. Rico 72

Second Round
The top three teams in each group advanced to the second round. The fourth-placed team in each group competed for 13th-16th place.

Group E Group F
1. USA (6-0) 1. Australia (6-0)
2. Serbia (5-1) 2. Spain (4-2)
3. France (4-2) 3. *Turkey (3-3)
4. Brazil (3-3) 4. *Argentina (3-3)
5. Lithuania (2-4) 5. *Canada (3-3)
6. China (1-5) 6. South Korea (2-4)

*Standings based on FIBA's tie-breaking formula.

Monday, July 16
Spain 83, Canada 69 Australia 135, S. Korea 79
Serbia 87, Brazil 75 Argentina 68, Turkey 59
USA 90, Lithuania 81 France 106, China 57

13th-16th Place Classification Semifinals:
Lebanon 76, Mali 56
Nigeria 97, Puerto Rico 77

Tuesday, July 17
Lithuania 85, China 66 Canada 99, South Korea 83
Serbia 79, France 62 Turkey 59, Spain 56
USA 104, Brazil 65 Australia 79, Argentina 78

13th-16th Place Classification Finals:
15th/16th Place: Mali 89, Puerto Rico 81
13th/14th Place: Nigeria 65, Lebanon 82

Wednesday, July 18
Brazil 89, China 77 S. Korea 104, Turkey 96
Serbia 89, Lithuania 76 Australia 86, Spain 84
USA 87, France 82 Canada 87, Argentina 82

Quarterfinals
The top four teams in each second round group advance to thed medal quarterfinals. The teams finishing in fifth and sixth place competed in the classification round for 9th-12th place.

Friday, July 20
9th-12th Classification Semifinals:
Lithuania 127, South Korea 74
Canada 94, China 90 (OT)

Medal Quarterfinals:
USA 112, Argentina 86
Brazil 73, Australia 72
Serbia 94, Turkey 56
France 100, Spain 83

Semifinals
Saturday, July 21
9th-12th Place Classification Finals:
11th/12th Place: South Korea 91, China 75
9th/10th Place: Lithuania 86, Canada 75

5th - 8th Classification Semifinals:
Argentina 78, Spain 75 Australia 82, Turkey 67

Medal Semifinals:
Serbia 89, Brazil 74 USA 78, France 75

Finals
Sunday, July 22
7th/8th Place: Turkey 80, Spain 69
5th/6th Place: Australia 83, Argentina 59
Bronze Medal: France 75, Brazil 67
Gold Medal: Serbia 74, USA 69

Final Standings

1. Serbia (8-1) 9. Lithuania (4-4)
2. USA (8-1) 10. Canada (4-4)
3. France (6-3) 11. South Korea (3-5)
4. Brazil (4-5) 12. China (1-7)
5. Australia (8-1) 13. Nigeria (2-3)
6. Argentina (4-5) 14. Lebanon (1-4)
7. Turkey (4-5) 15. Mali (1-4)
8. Spain (4-5) 16. Puerto Rico (0-5)
OFFICIAL BASKETBALL BOX SCORE -- G A M E T O T A L S
Serbia vs USA
07/22/07 6:30 p.m. at Novi Sad, Serbia
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VISITORS: Serbia (8-1)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 JEREMIC, Mladen * 9-18 4-11 2-2 1 2 3 1 24 1 4 0 1 40
06 KATNIC, Dusan * 2-3 1-2 2-2 0 2 2 5 7 1 2 0 1 17
07 MARKOVIC, Stefan * 0-6 0-3 0-0 1 2 3 5 0 6 0 0 5 32
11 CAKAREVIC, Marko * 2-4 1-1 1-2 3 3 6 3 6 0 2 0 2 26
13 RADULJICA, Miroslav * 1-1 0-0 0-2 0 2 2 4 2 0 0 0 1 8
05 DESPOTOVIC, Petar 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 1 14
10 STOJACIC, Stefan 4-8 3-4 3-6 1 1 2 2 14 1 3 1 1 18
12 MACVAN, Milan 5-13 1-2 8-10 2 8 10 2 19 1 5 0 1 33
14 MARJANOVIC, Boban 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 5 6 1 2 0 1 1 0 12
TEAM ........................................ 2 2 4
TOTALS 24-56 10-24 16-24 11 27 38 23 74 14 18 2 13 200

TOT-FG 1stH: 0-0 00.0% 2ndH: 24-56 42.9% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 42.9% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 0-0 00.0% 2ndH: 10-24 41.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 41.7% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 0-0 00.0% 2ndH: 16-24 66.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 66.7% 5

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HOME TEAM: USA (8-1)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
06 FLYNN, Johnny * 1-5 0-2 1-2 0 1 1 1 3 3 2 0 3 31
07 BEVERLY, Patrick * 5-7 1-1 4-7 4 4 8 3 15 2 2 0 4 32
09 LIGHTY, David * 3-4 1-2 2-6 2 4 6 4 9 0 2 0 1 28
12 THOMPSON, Deon * 8-12 0-0 0-1 3 1 4 3 16 0 3 2 1 30
14 BEASLEY, Michael * 2-7 0-2 1-2 0 3 3 2 5 0 2 1 1 14
04 PORTER, Tajuan 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
05 CURRY, Stephen 2-8 2-7 0-0 1 2 3 2 6 2 3 0 1 16
08 BOULDIN, Matt 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6
10 GREENE, Donte' 0-2 0-1 1-2 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 7
11 MORGAN, Raymar 4-7 1-2 1-2 0 2 2 4 10 0 2 1 1 26
13 HOLLIS, Damian 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 3
15 JORDAN, DeAndre 0-2 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 5
TEAM ........................................ 0 1 1
TOTALS 26-58 6-21 11-24 12 21 33 23 69 8 19 4 14 200

TOT-FG 1stH: 0-0 00.0% 2ndH: 26-58 44.8% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 44.8% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 0-0 00.0% 2ndH: 6-21 28.6% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 28.6% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 0-0 00.0% 2ndH: 11-24 45.8% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 45.8% 5

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OFFICIALS: Mitjana, Benito, Seibel
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Serbia - none
USA - none
ATTENDANCE: 9,000
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT1 OT2 TOTAL
Serbia 22 21 14 17 74
USA 14 16 17 22 69

2007 FIBA U19 World Championship Gold Medal Game