Centennial’s Troy Brown stars for US in FIBA World Championships

Centennial’s Troy Brown knew how special it was to make the USA Men’s Under-17 basketball team last month.

The 6-foot-6-inch guard, however, wasn’t just satisfied in accompanying the 11 other American players on a two-week trip to Spain. He wanted to make an impact and bring home a gold medal.

Mission accomplished.

Brown averaged a team-high 23.7 minutes and 10.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.9 steals as the USA finished the FIBA World Championships 7-0. It defeated Turkey 96-56 in the gold medal game July 3.

“It was just an amazing feeling to represent my country,” Brown said. “I’ve always wanted to play USA basketball since I was a kid. It was a long trip, but overall it was a fun experience.”

Brown, who started all seven games for Team USA, had nine points, four rebounds and two steals in the final to cap an impressive performance in Zaragoza, Spain. For the tournament, he made 24 of 54 shots from the field (44.4 percent) and was 17 of 18 from the free-throw line.

Brown said he wasn’t expecting to lead the team in minutes but cited his versatility as the reason.

“Just being able to play multiple positions, that got me some more minutes,” Brown said. “I wasn’t really expecting to come in and play that much. But it just shows that being able to do multiple things can help.”

Team USA averaged 106.1 points in the tournament and outscored opponents by 44.6 points a game. Brown led the team in steals and was third in assists.

“I just want to say I played with a great group of kids on and off the court,” he said. “It was probably the best experience I’ve had basketball-wise since I started playing.

“Knowing that last year I wasn’t able to make the team because I was still in school, I really wanted to go this time and show the coaches what I could do.”

Brown is the No. 11 overall prospect in the class of 2017 on Scout.com and 28th on ESPN.com. Findlay Prep’s P.J. Washington is No. 16 on ESPN’s list, the only Nevada player ranked higher than Brown.

Brown has scholarship offers from several schools, including Arizona, Duke, Kansas and UNLV.

Former Findlay Prep standout Markus Howard, who reclassified to the class of 2016 and will attend Marquette, also played for Team USA. He averaged 11.9 points, 2.6 assists and 2.3 rebounds and hit 18 of 37 (48 percent) 3-pointers. He played 21.1 minutes a game.

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow him on Twitter: @af_ferguson.