Canada’s under-21 team completed the sweep in the tourney warm-up. It wasn’t even close, as Canada put the Australians away early.
Canada defeated Australia 100-80 last night in the final of the inaugural Jack Donohue International Classic, a round-robin tournament held at the Hershey Centre this week. The Canadians were 4-0 in the tournament and led at the end of each quarter of the final last night. They were sparked by some torrid three-point shooting. Andy Rautins, a Canadian citizen who played high-school basketball in Syracuse, N.Y., where he’ll attend university in the fall, connected on six three-pointers, including five in the first half, and led all scorers with 20 points. Canada shot 13-for-25 as a team from behind the arc. Levon Kendall of Vancouver chipped in 14 points and a game best total of eight rebounds in 19 minutes.
It was, apparently, Levon Kendall’s 3rd straight good game. In the game against China the day before, he sparked the rout in the 3rd quarter with 9 points and 2 rebounds.
Canada will face 2 of the 3 teams — Australia and Greece — again next week in the real tournament. They are all in the same grouping that will play round robin, along with Argentina, Israel and Iran. The US squad is in the other grouping.
Kendall also gets a piece discussing him as the anchor and key for this squad in the upcoming games, and speculating as to whether he can make the NBA.
The question is how far Kendall’s basketball journey will take him. Based on his production at the University of Pittsburgh, where he averaged 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds a game in a part-time role last season, a spot in the Panthers’ starting lineup would be a worthy goal.
Based on his performance for Canada this summer, that journey could lead to the National Basketball Association.
“Can Levon Kendall play in the NBA? I think he’s legit,” said Leo Rautins, the head coach of Canada’s senior men’s team. “I’ve told him, ‘Hey, you can be an NBA player,’ but he’s got a little bit of that West Coast casual in him. He’s got to break through the casual. When he’s intense, when he goes at people, he hurts people.”
But perhaps the most important step Kendall made in realizing his potential came while lifting weights in Vancouver in May. A documentary featuring Steve Nash, Todd MacCulloch and Jamaal Magloire was on television, and Kendall noticed a common thread among the three Canadians who made it to the NBA.
“I noticed that every one of them said at one point they made a decision that they wanted to play in the NBA,” Kendall said. “Up until then, I’d never really fully committed. Obviously, it was a goal, but when people would ask me about it, I would say: ‘We’ll see what happens after school. If not I’ll go overseas.’ “
And now? “I realized I have to make a choice and commit. Now, whenever anyone asks me, I say my goal is to play in the NBA. That kind of puts it out there.”
If he’s serious, it will have to start at Pitt this season. It will be his senior season. He should have a shot to start at small forward and it will be up to him to make the most of it. He’s going to have to show the intensity he showed in early in Big East play and much more consistency in his shot then the brief flashes he had in that stretch.
