FORMOSA, Argentina - Incoming Rutgers freshman Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela) has been a force in the FIBA U18 Americas Championship, leading the tournament in rebounding (12.0), blocked shots (5.0) and free throws made (6.0), while placing second in scoring (18.0) and free throw average. Venezuela, which suffered tough losses to the United States and Puerto Rico in its first two games, plays the Bahamas in a Group B qualifying round contest Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. local time.
On Tuesday evening, Echenique posted game highs of 25 points and 15 rebounds in 34 minutes of action against Puerto Rico. He shot eight-of-12 from the field and issued six blocked shots. His 15 boards are currently a tournament-high, while his 25 points rank second for a contest output. Facing the United States on Monday, Echenique fell just short of a double-double, scoring 11 points while grabbing nine rebounds in 36 minutes.
Echenique is one four members of the Scarlet Knights incoming scholastic recruiting class, which has been nationally-rated by multiple outlets, including a No. 19-ranking from Scout.com. The 6-foot 9, 260-pound forward is rated as the nation's No. 15 overall prospect for 2008 by Hoop Scoop and the Basketball Times. Echenique averaged 11.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks this past season to earn All-State and All-Prep honors for 24-1 St. Benedict's Preparatory School, which concluded 2007-08 ranked No. 2 nationally in both the USA Today Super 25 and ESPN High Elite 25 polls under Dan Hurley.
Last summer, Echenique led the Venezuela Junior National Team to a second place finish in the South American Championships en route to being named MVP of the tournament. He was invited to attend both the NBA Top 100 Camp and the Amare Stoudemire Nike Skills Camp this summer before signing a national letter of intent to enroll at Rutgers for 2008-09.
Eight different countries are competing in the Championship, which is hosting its games at the 4,500-seat Polideportivo Centenario. Group A consists of Canada, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico. For additional information on the Championship visit the FIBA Americas web site at http://www.fibaamericas.com.
