July 13, 2009
Santa Clara's rising sophomore Marc Trasolini, playing the last 10 days in New Zealand as part of Canada's U19 national team, has played the past three summers against the world's best. Trasolini's Canadian team finished its U19 World Championship campaign with an 82-74 win over France to capture seventh place at the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship. Last summer, as a member of the U18 national team, Trasolini's Canadian team won the bronze medal at the FIBA Americas Tournament in Argentina.
At the U19 World Championships, the USA defeated Greece 88-80 to win the gold medal. Croatia defeated Australia 87-81 to win the silver medal. All four of FIBA America's teams finished in the top seven.
"I am happy with the result, but I knew that if this team came together as a team, a strong unit, I knew that on any given night they could have beaten any of the other teams," said Canadian head coach Greg Francis. "The biggest thing for our team is the amount of teamwork that goes into winning these games. In North America we have the one-on-one style of basketball, but our guys learned that if you don't play like a team you have no shot. I think it took us a couple of games to learn that but our guys are seeing what it takes."
For the tournament Trasolini, who battled mono this spring and was unable to play for almost a month and a half prior to leaving for New Zealand, battled back to average 7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, shooting 51.3 % from the field during the tournament.
The following is a summary of Trasolini's play in the U19 World Championship.
*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 quarterfinals.
*The Canadians kept its 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.
* In the 93-73 loss to the gold-medal winning USA team, Trasolini played just eight minutes, scoring two points and adding three rebounds.
* Jio Fontain hit a jumper with 2.6 ticks on the clock to take a 67-65 win over Canada in the next game. Trasolini scored two points and collected five rebounds in nine minutes.
* Trasolini concluded play in the tournament with the Canadians defeating France 82-74 to finish in seventh place. Trasolini was four of nine from the field, scoring 11 points with eight rebounds; and was credited for his fine play in the paint defending.
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.
