LAS VEGAS, Nevada – After impressive showings at the second annual Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship at Mall of America earlier this month, the MAC and Southland conferences will represent 3X3U at the 2019 USA Basketball 3x3 National Championship this weekend in Las Vegas.
Not only will teams compete for a national championship this weekend, the event also will serve as the 2019 USA Basketball Men's 3x3 National Team trials, as all eligible athletes will be in consideration for selection to the 2019 USA Men's 3x3 World Cup and 2019 USA Men's 2019 U.S. Pan American Games 3x3 Basketball Teams.
The Southland, with a team of Stephen F. Austin's Shannon Bogues, Sam Houston State's Cameron Delaney, Southeastern Louisiana's Moses Greenwood and Abilene Christian's
Jaren Lewis, advanced to the quarterfinals at 3X3U, buoyed by a victory over one of the tournament's top teams, the ACC, in the Round of 16. Delaney was the conference Player of the Year, Greenwood was a first-team All-Conference selection, and Bogues and Lewis were second-team picks.
Lewis – the 2018-19 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year and announced Monday night as the winner of the Paul Goad Award as the top male athlete at ACU in 2018-19 – was a second team all-Southland Conference selection as a senior and helped lead the Wildcats to the league's tournament championship and the program's first berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats – in only their second year of eligibility for a tournament bid after making the transition from NCAA Division II membership to NCAA Division I affiliation – lost to Kentucky in the first round of the Midwest Regional in Jacksonville, Florida.
Lewis finished in the top 10 in the Southland in steals (54), steals per game (1.6), field goal percentage (.466), free throw percentage (.733) and rebounds (208). He was also 13th in scoring at 13.8 points per game and is just the fourth in ACU program history to record at least 1,500 career points and 800 career rebounds. He is ACU's all-time Division I leader in both points (1,580) and rebounds (825).
The Orlando, Florida, native played a vital role in the Wildcats' six-game turnaround in conference play from last season as ACU claimed the No. 2 seed and a double-bye in the Southland Conference Tournament with a 14-4 record. Behind Lewis' tournament MVP performance, the Wildcats defeated Southeastern Louisiana in the semifinals and New Orleans in the title game to secure the school's first league title.
The MAC, represented by Central Michigan's Larry Austin, Ball State's Tayler Persons, Toledo's Jaelan Sanford and Kent State's Jaylin Walker, finished 5-2 in the Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship, finishing third. The team is comprised of seniors who each were named All-Conference performers, including Walker and Sanford as first-team selections, Austin as a second-team performer and Persons and a third-team choice.
Players also competing in Las Vegas this weekend with ties to the Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship include Olin Carter III and Frankie Ferrari, who were part of the 2019 team from the West Coast Conference, Josh Sharma (2019 Pac-12), Henry Caruso (2018 West Coast) and Leland King (2018 Big West). Meanwhile, Zahir Carrington, Damon Huffman, Kareem Maddox, Daniel Mavraides and Craig Moore, who have served as coaches at the Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship each of the last two years, along with Robbie Hummel, who has served as color commentator at 3X3U the last two years, are also scheduled to compete this weekend. Huffman, Mavraides and Moore have teamed up to win the last two national championships, with Carrington joining the team in 2017 and Maddox being part of the championship squad in 2018.
The USA Basketball 3x3 National Championship, which is free to the public, will be held for the first time outdoors at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, located in the heart of downtown Las Vegas. The USA 3x3 Nationals will tipoff with preliminary games from 3-10:30 p.m. (all times listed are local, PT) on Friday and will continue from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The top four teams from each pool will advance to the knockout stage, which will begin Saturday at 5:40 p.m. The championship game, which will be streamed live online at
usab.com/live, is set to tip at 10:20 p.m.
This year marks the eighth edition of the USA Basketball 3x3 National Championship, and the first time the nationals will be held outside of Colorado Springs, Colo.
More information on the 2019 USA Basketball 3x3 National Championship can be found HERE.
Pool Play Schedule (all times are PT):
MAC
Game 1: Friday, 4:40 p.m. vs. Ariel Slow & Steady
Game 2: Friday, 8:40 p.m. vs. 3Ball California
Game 3: Saturday, 9 a.m. vs. Quest
Game 4: Saturday, 11 a.m. vs. NYC
Southland
Game 1: Friday, 4:40 p.m. vs. Attack
Game 2: Friday, 8:40 p.m. vs. 3Ball Harlem
Game 3: Friday, 10 p.m. vs. WAC
Game 4: Saturday, 11:40 a.m. vs. Roots Academy
