Maurice Torres scored a game-high 14 points to lead the U.S. to a three-set victory over Canada in the final of the NORCECA junior men's volleyball championship Saturday in Gatineau, Que.

The Americans won 25-14, 25-19, 25-16 to claim their first tournament title for the event that includes North and Central America and the Carribean.

Tournament MVP Nicholas Hoag of Sherbrooke, Que., led Canada with 12 points. The Canadians, also silver medallists in 2008, had their best set in the second but a six-point U.S. run midway through was too hard to overcome.

"The U.S. really came to play and we just got outplayed today," said Edmonton's Justin Olmstead, who added seven points. "Our plan was to stick to what we we've doing all week and keep that block stable. But they made it tough on us and we wound up making a lot of errors."

The Canadian team was together for less than a month but managed to win its pool in the round robin before pulling off the upset of the tournament in Friday's semifinal with Cuba.

Puerto Rico beat Cuba earlier Saturday for bronze.

The U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico gained spots for next year's world championships in Brazil.

"It was a great tournament for us," said Canada head coach Greg Barthel. "[The loss] just hurts right now but I'm sure later we'll appreciate what we accomplished here. I think it will just make us hungrier for next year at the world juniors.

"We fell behind early and once they get ahead they start beaming into their serves. It becomes harder to pass and they simply played a good game."

The U.S. didn't lose a set in the entire tournament in going 5-0.

"This victory means absolutely everything to us," said Torres. "There's nothing more you can do than win a gold medal. We play as a team. There's not one or two of us, there's 12 of us. That's the best system you can have."