Day 1: Rondae Jefferson in Italy

USA 3x3 Boys Wrap Up Day One With 4-1 Record

The U.S. boys opened with a 21-17 defeat of Guam as Malik Price-Martin (Monsignor Edward Pace H.S./ Miami, Fla.) had eight points, and Rondaé Jefferson (Chester H.S./Chester, Pa.) added seven. Bulgaria edged the U.S. team in game two 11-10. Jordan Swopshire (SportsQuest Academy, Va./Ofallon, Mo.) led the Americans with six points as Jefferson sat out much of the game against Bulgaria after tweaking a leg muscle. He did return to play in the day's final three games.

The USA boys got back on the winning track and improved to 2-1 with a 19-11 win over Netherlands. Jefferson scored six points, Price-Martin added five and Shaqquan Aaron (Taft H.S./Apple Valley, Calif.) and Swopshire each tossed in four points. In game four, the USA earned an impressive 19-16 victory over Russia behind eight points from Jefferson, six from Aaron, three points from Swopshire and two from Price-Martin. The USA boys wrapped up the day with a 17-13 victory over Croatia. Jefferson scored eight points, while Swopshire and Price-Martin added five and four points, respectively.

"We did pretty good today," Jefferson said. "We knew that we could be a good team, but we played better than we expected. We stayed together and worked hard. Bulgaria wanted it more than we did, and they out-hustled us, but it felt great to come back and get three wins after that loss. We had our heads down for a bit, but we got together and picked each other up and responded."


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