United States defeats Croatia to win FIBA U19 World Championship

For the first time since 1983, the United States have repeated as FIBA U19 Champions. USA knocked off Croatia 79-71 in the Championship Game on Sunday afternoon.

The win didn't come easy for Sean Miller's bunch. For much of the game, the teams traded leads. The USA led by 10 at one point in the second half, their biggest lead of the game, but Croatia kept chipping away and hanging in the game, and even had a chance to win with less that five seconds to play when they went to the free throw line down by one. The player hit the first free throw and missed the second to send the game to overtime, where the USA prevailed.

Croatia's Marko Arapovic had 16 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

Villanova freshman Jalen Brunson capped off a well-rounded performance the past couple weeks, including a 30 point outburst in Saturday's semi-final win over Greece, with a 12-point, five rebound, seven assist effort in Sunday's victory. Brunson also won a gold medal last year with the U18 team.

Georgetown's LJ Peak also had a nice tournament, playing lockdown defense and drawing fouls.

The All-Tournament Team will be posted as soon as it is announced. Brunson is expected to be there.