July 12, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Northwestern sophomore-to-be John Shurna (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West) helped the United States post a perfect 9-0 record, including an 88-80 win Sunday over Greece, as the team claimed the gold medal at the FIBA U19 World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand.
"It's a pretty amazing feeling right now," Shurna said. "It's nice to see we came together like three or four weeks ago and our hard work paid off and now we're 19 and under world champs, it doesn't get much better than that."
Shurna averaged 6.0 points and 3.9 rebounds during the Championships, including shooting an impressive .514 from the field (18-35) and .857 from the free throw line (12-14). He started a pair of contests for the U.S. and averaged 12.2 minutes per game.
In an 81-77 win over Croatia in Saturday's semifinals, Shurna made one of the key plays of the game. With the United States leading by two with under 20 seconds remaining, he chased down an offensive rebound and got the ball to Butler's Gordon Hayward who was fouled and sealed the win with a pair of free throws.
During Friday's 93-73 quarterfinal win over Canada, Shurna scored 10 points and contributed a game-high four blocked shots.
The goal medal is the first for the United States in the event since 1991. The squad's average margin of victory was 22.2 points per game.
"This team was unique as far as U.S. teams," said head coach Jamie Dixon of the University of Pittsburgh. "I think it was better suited for international. We may not have had as many name guys as other teams, but I really thought it was suited and I think we selected guys that were suited to the international game and the FIBA rules. We really shot the ball well, we were skilled, we were a good free throw shooting team and I think that was something that was beneficial to us."