DOUAI, France –Rutgers guard Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed five rebounds, but the Puerto Rico U19 national team dropped its second straight, one–point decision in a 77-76 loss to Canada Friday evening at the 23rd World Juniors Basketball Tournament. Rosario was eight-of-10 from the free throw line and had two assists and two steals in 32 minutes of action.
Neither team performed well from the field, as Puerto Rico shot 39.7 percent (27-68), while Canada made 34.3 percent (23-67) of its field goals. Canada established a 46-42 edge in the rebounding column.
Puerto Rico returns to action Saturday versus Lithuania before concluding the six-team tournament on Sunday against Australia. The tournament is in preparation for the 2009 FIBA U19 Word Championships, set to take place in Auckland, New Zealand July 2-12. Puerto Rico will compete in Group A, along with Angola, Greece and Lithuania in Auckland, known as the “City of Sails.”
Rosario was named to the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team, the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Rookie of the Year, as well as a Freshman All-American by CollegeInsider.com and CollegeHoops.net in 2008-09. He set the Rutgers freshman all-time scoring mark with 517 points, and averaged 18.9 points-per-game in eight contests against nationally-ranked foes. He concluded the season ranked fifth nationally among the nation’s freshmen in scoring with 16.2 points-per-game. He shared Team M.V.P. honors with fellow rookie Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela), who played for his home nation of Venezuela in last summer’s FIBA U18 World Championship in Formosa, Argentina.
