FORMOSA, Argentina - Incoming Rutgers freshman Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela) has continued his dominant play at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship and leads the tournament after four games in scoring (22.5), blocked shots (4.5) and free throws made (7.5), while placing second in rebounding (14.0). Venezuela (2-2), which has earned consecutive victories over the Bahamas and Mexico, plays Uruguay in a 4:00 p.m. local tip-off in the Championship's fifth place game on Friday.
Echenique scored 21 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to help Venezuela to a 90-78 win over Mexico on Thursday. He played 34 minutes, shooting eight-of-12 from the field and five-of-six from the free throw line. The performance came on the heels of a 33-point, 15-rebound showing on Wednesday versus the Bahamas. In the 85-64 victory, Echenique shot 10-of-16, made 13 free throws and blocked five shots. His 33 points tied for a tournament-best.
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. 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 countries are competing in the Championship, which is hosting its games at the 4,500-seat Polideportivo Centenario. For additional information on the Championship visit the FIBA Americas web site at http://www.fibaamericas.com
