July 8, 2009
Santa Clara's rising sophomore Marc Trasolini, playing on Canada's U19 World Championship team, will face off against the USA in the FIBA quarter finals. The two teams will play in Auckland, New Zealand's North Shore Event Center on Friday. Canada advanced after defeating Argentina 67-57 on July 8 (note: because it is across the International Dateline, New Zealand time is almost one day ahead of PT).
For the Broncos, Trasolini, an All-WCC Freshman team selectee, started 20 of the last 21 games and played 24.6 mpg, adding 6.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 1.2 bpg. He shot 68.1% from the field; breaking both the single season record (64.7%, Mike Stewart, 1972) and freshman record (62.6%, Jens Gordon, 1986) at Santa Clara. He finished the year tied with John Bryant's freshman record for shots blocked (37). Trasolini is playing with the Canadian team after recovering from a bout of mononucleosis in the late spring 2009.
The USA, carrying a six-game win streak, advances to the medal round quarterfinals as the Group E No. 1 seed and will face Group F No. 4 seed Canada (3-3) on July 10.
Canada advanced to the medal round quarterfinals only after earning a surprise 67-57 win over Argentina Wednesday afternoon.
Other medal round quarterfinal matchups include Greece (4-2) versus Argentina (3-3); France (3-3) goes against Group F No. 1 seed and undefeated Australia (6-0) and Puerto Rico (4-2) takes on Croatia (5-1). In the consolation quarterfinals, Lithuania (3-3) will play Kazakhstan (1-5) and Egypt (1-5) will go against Spain (3-3).
The following is a recap of Trasolini and the Canadians thus far in the FIBA U19 World Championships:
*Canada began the tournament with a disappointing loss to Australia on July 2, where Trasolini scored eight points and nabbed four rebounds. Australia will also be competing in the medal round.
*The next day, the Canadians came out with a vengeance, crushing Syria 99-53. Trasolini scored a point for every minute he played, sinking both his attempted field goals and shooting 5-for-6 at the line. He also notched two rebounds and one steal.
*On July 4, despite a rally by Canadian forward Mangisto Arop in the second half, Canada surrendered to Spain 75-82. Though they didn't emerge victorious, Trasolini had a standout game, tallying 14 points, one assist, one steal and led the team with eight rebounds.
*Two days later, the Canadians suffered another disappointing loss to Croatia, 77-83. Trasolini had six points and tallied four defensive rebounds. The loss put the Canadians in do-or-die position for their next two games, needing both wins in order to have a shot at the quarter finals.
*The Canadians kept their chances alive on July 7, with a decisive victory over Kazakhstan 108-70. Trasolini contributed five points, four rebounds and one steal to the blowout win.
*In their crucial 67-57 win over Argentina, an upset, Trasolini scored six points, shot 80% from the line and tallied five defensive rebounds, one assist and one steal for the Canadians.
Trasolini has garnered three straight years of international experience playing for Canadian National teams. In 2008 Trasolini played on the Canadian U-18 team that won a bronze medal at the FIBA Americas Tournament in Argentina where he was the third-leading scorer. In 2007 a Trasolini-led British Columbia team earned a bronze medal at the Canadian U-17 tournament in 2007, with Trasolini putting up 30 points and pulling down 10 rebounds in the bronze medal game against Ontario; and he scored 30 points vs. USA in Nike Global Games.
