Pitt alum Sheldon Jeter helps U.S. team win 3x3 title
Sheldon Jeter is bringing home a gold medal from the Pan American Games.
The Pitt and Beaver Falls alum helped the USA men’s 3x3 basketball team to a championship at the Games, played at the Coliseo Eduardo Dibo in Lima, Peru.
Jeter, a member of the Maine Red Claws, an affiliate of the Boston Celtics in the NBA G-League, was selected to the team last month after playing in the Red Bull USA Basketball 3×3 Nationals in May in Las Vegas.
The 6-foot-8 forward joined USA teammates Kareem Maddox, Dominique Jones and Jon Octeus in Peru.
The team went 1-1 on the opening day and 1-2 on Sunday but still reached the semifinals where they downed Brazil, 21-12, early Monday.
Later in the afternoon, the team edged past Puerto Rico, 21-19, for the title. Jeter matched a team high with eight points in the gold medal game. He made 6 of 12 shots as the U.S. avenged a pool-play loss.
“I think what happened was when we got to 1-3, I think we all felt that feeling like, ‘ahhh man, we blew it,’ and then (USA advisor) Kara Lawson came and told us ‘oh no, you’re still in it.’ So we gained a form of desperation, where it was like we can’t let this go,” Jeter said in a news release. “In the last three games we played incredibly hard, some of the hardest I’ve ever played, because we realized what was on the line and we were this close to losing it. We kind of got desperate, which was a good thing in a way.”
Jeter is the first Pitt men’s basketball player to earn a gold medal with USA Basketball since James Robinson won gold with Team USA in the 2013 FIBA World Championship in Prague.
Jerome Lane earned a silver in basketball at the Pan Am Games in 1987, while Sam Clancy was the first Pitt player to earn a gold medal at the 1979 Pan Am Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Jeter, who played at Vanderbilt before transferring to Pitt, averaged 8.0 points and 3.0 rebounds last season for Maine.
The USA 3x3 women’s team also won gold at the Pan Am Games, finishing play with a 7-0 record.
? A GOLDEN SWEEP ?
The U.S. Pan American Games 3x3 Men's Basketball Team takes the crown at #Lima2019! pic.twitter.com/A8LMaqQ44v
— USA Basketball 3x3 (@usab3x3) July 29, 2019
Congratulations USA 3x3 men and women Pan Am Gold medals! Big shout out to @KareemMaddox @JonBlaze_21 @sabrina_i20 Big time winners! ????? pic.twitter.com/pOwN1aLuR8
— Joe Lewandowski (@coachJoeLew) July 29, 2019
— Sheldon Jeter (@JonBlaze_21) July 29, 2019
Kings of the sport court at #Lima2019! Gutsy performances from @DJones5 @KareemMaddox @JonBlaze_21 & @morethanahooper led the U.S. Pan American Games 3x3 Men to gold.
>> https://t.co/XnWzARZbVQ pic.twitter.com/uwY48TfWjv
— USA Basketball 3x3 (@usab3x3) July 30, 2019
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
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