July 20, 2006

Sydney, Australia - Saint Mary's men's basketball junior guard Todd Golden returned from the Maccabi Australian International Games as a gold medal winner last week. Golden helped Team USA win a gold medal by defeating Canada in the championship game.

Golden, along with a supporting cast of other collegiate, Jewish basketball players, traveled to Australia to compete against Jewish basketball teams from across the globe.

While in Australia, Golden and his American cast dominated the tournament going undefeated on the way to winning the championship. The American team posted victories of 46 and 50 points throughout the tournament. During the championship game the American team defeated the Canadian team by 40 points to capture the Gold medal.

The competition brought both basketball and religion to center court; which Golden referred to as "the best of both worlds."

Golden was thrilled to team up with other collegiate Jewish athletes.

"It was a great opportunity to make some life-long friends, play basketball and just hang out," Golden said.

Golden was joined by Jewish athletes from UNC Willington, Princeton, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Brown and Villanova to name a few.