Martin, Johnson, Thornwell To Participate In 2014 Four Nations Cup With USA East Coast Basketball Team

June 18, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. – University of South Carolina head men’s basketball coach Frank Martin, senior point guard Tyrone Johnson and sophomore guard Sindarius Thornwell will all take part in the 2014 Four Nations Cup in Europe this August as part of Guy Rancourt’s USA East Coast Basketball Team. Martin will serve on staff, while Johnson and Thornwell make up part of the 10-man roster. The squad will travel to Europe to compete against foreign national teams consisting of NBA players and Euro-League all stars. The team has accepted an invitation by the Estonian Federation to participate in the 2014 Four Nations Cup in Estonia and Finland, July 31-Aug. 8.

Team members will include Johnson, Thornwell, Mike Gesell (Iowa), Dusty Hannahs (Arkansas), BJ Johnson (Syracuse), John Monkam (Lycoming), Tyler Roberson (Syracuse), Damonte Dodd (Maryland), Granville Gittens (Baruch), and Adam Woodbury (Iowa).

US East Coast will turn to a coaching staff with extensive international experience. Martin will join Rancourt (Lycoming College, head coach), who has taken teams overseas since 2006, Mike Jones (DeMatha Catholic HS, head coach) who has been with USA National Teams since 2010, Dave Cooks (Concordia University Wisconsin, assistant coach) who has experience at all levels of basketball in the United States and John Andrzejek (Columbia University, director of operations) who will oversee day-to-day activities for the team.

The United States representative in the 2014 Four Nations Cup, USA East Coast will hold a two-day training camp on the campus of Columbia University on July 31st and August 1st, which is open to the public. In conjunction with Anthony Travel Inc. and Moneyball Sportwear Inc., the team will then travel to Tallinn, Estonia, on Aug. 2 and will compete against the national teams of Estonia and Slovakia, with France rounding out the field. Games will take place Aug, 4, 5, 6 and the morning of Aug. 7, the team will ferry across the Gulf of Finland into Helsinki to play a friendly match against the Finland National Team before returning to the United States.

Continue to visit GamecocksOnline.com throughout the months of July and August for updates and coverage of the Four Nations Cup.