JT Thor, Mier Panoam and Travante Williams are repping Rage City at FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
South Sudan’s 907 personnel are different than in years past, but the results are the same.
Four years after Anchorage’s Mareng Gatkuoth laced ’em up for South Sudan, fellow Rage City playmakers JT Thor and Mier Panoam have taken the torch and are part of the squad competing at this week’s FIBA World Cup qualifying stage in Douala, Cameroon.
On Thursday, they teamed up for a fastbreak dunk in the second quarter of a 95-57 win over Libya in the African nations bracket. Thor grabbed a loose ball and started a 2-on-1 break with Panoam, passing the ball to the guard thinking he might get it back, but the 6-foot-5 Panoam called own number after the defender stayed with Thor and finished it off with a one-handed rim rocker.
Panoam returned the favor in the third quarter after assisting on Thor’s dunk, his second of the game. The 6-10 former NBA player finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 20 minutes off the bench. Panoam logged nearly 22 minutes and furnished seven points, four rebounds and five assists.
Panoam (5) and South Sudan were in celly mode after Thursday’s win. Photo courtesy of FIBA
Together, the Alaskans helped the Sudanese improve to 3-1 in Group A to punch their ticket to the second round. South Sudan has thrived with Last Frontier talent in uniform as Gatkuoth helped the team advance to the 2023 World Cup and Thor helped the team reach the 2025 Olympics.
South Sudan will close out the first round of Group A with games Saturday against Cape Verde and Sunday against Cameroon.
In Athens, the third player in this year’s Rage City trio, Travante Williams, pumped in 21 points on Thursday as he continued his heater for Portugal in Group B of the European bracket. Unfortunately, his big game couldn’t prevent a 72-68 loss to Montenegro, which puts Portugal in a win-or-go home situation Sunday against Greece.
This has been the group of death, with Greece and Montenegro being 3-2 and Portugal and Romania being 2-3. The top three teams advance and going into Sunday all four teams have a shot.
Williams drives on a Montenegro defender during his 21-point performance. Photo courtesy of FIBA
Williams, a former All-GNAC guard out of UAF, connected on 8-for-17 shooting, including four of 11 from 3-point range. He hit two big 3s in the final 1:09 to keep Portugal in the game.
The 6-5 guard was coming off a 33-point performance against Romania on 10-of-19 shooting from the field and 10-of14 shooting from the line.
Williams ranks ninth in the first round of this year’s Euro qualifier with a 22-points scoring average.
