For Callaway's Malik Newman, the hard part about his first trip outside the United States was the 18-hour plane ride and getting accustomed to the food. The basketball part came easy. Newman, who was named Mississippi's Mr. Basketball by The Clarion-Ledger in April, picked up another honor last week when he was named Most Valuable Player at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Uruguay.
“Just to bring the gold medal back was amazing,” said Newman, who will be a junior this season. “I was representing the country and Mississippi and myself so it was great.”
The 6-foot-3 guard averaged a team-best 16.2 points per game to lead the United States to its third consecutive title in the tournament.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.