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 per game for the USA, while recording 10.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.9 steals, as the team finished the FIBA World Championships 7-0. It defeated Turkey 96-56 in the gold medal game on 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 individual performance in Zaragoza, Spain. For the tournament, he made 24 of his 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 for giving him that opportunity.

“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 per game in the tournament, and outscored its opponents by 44.6 points. Brown led the team in steals and ranked third in assists.

“I just want to say I played with a great group of kids on and off the court,” Brown 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 currently is the No. 11 overall prospect in the class of 2017 on Scout.com, which would make him the top recruit in Nevada. He is ranked 28th overall — only behind Findlay Prep’s P.J. Washington (No. 16) — on ESPN.com.

Brown has scholarship offers from several schools, including, Arizona, Arizona State, California, Duke, Georgetown, Kansas, Louisville, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, UCLA and UNLV.

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