The US may be out of the World Cup, but the stars and stripes are rolling in international play in another sport, and a prized SU commit is right in the thick of things.

Sure, it’s not the Dream Team (or Dream Team II, or III or The Redeem Team, for that matter), but Trevor Cooney is making some noise in FIBA Americas U19 Championship currently taking place in San Antonio. He and other top young players whose names you may recognize – Kyrie Irving, Austin Rivers, LeBryan Nash, Vander Blue, to name a few – are suiting up for their home country, and the US hasn’t left anything in doubt to this point.

In its first game against the US Virgin Islands on Saturday, Team USA prevailed in a 131-63 domination. Cooney didn’t start, but had the second-highest scoring total for the US. He had a solid game in 17 minutes off the bench, scoring 15 points on 9-19 shooting, including a 4-9 effort from downtown. Only Nash put up more shots, so it looks like Cooney’s teammates trust him with the ball.

In Sunday’s action, the US rolled again, annihilating Mexico, 114-38. Cooney, along with Austin Rivers, paced the game with 16 points apiece. Cooney shot 6-12 from the floor, including another 4-9 performance from beyond the arc. He still has another full year in high school to go before arriving on campus, but it’s great to see him holding his own and then some on a team full of studs.

Team USA plays Argentina tonight before the semifinals and finals wrap up competition on Tuesday and Wednesday. In another Upstate New York connection, Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon is an assistant for the US team, which is led by Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 4:08 pm by Brian G. . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.