USA Takes 2 of 3 From Canada Wheelchair Basketball

In a pre-Paralympics test series, USA’s men’s Wheelchair Basketball won the best-of-three series against Canada. 20 Jul 2012

USA's men's Wheelchair Basketball team advanced to the finals at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

ⒸIPC

By IPC

USA enters the London 2012 Paralympics not having won a medal since the Sydney 2000 Games, but after winning gold at the 2011 Parapan American Games and the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup, they have high hopes for the big stage.

Canada’s men’s Wheelchair Basketball team held their final training camp on home soil prior to the London 2012 Paralympic Games, in which they hosted USA for a three-game test series.

USA won the first two games on the series and then Canada battled back to win the third and final contest on Wednesday (18 July) at Brock University in St. Catherine’s, Ontario.

In the first matchup, USA came back from a 9-point halftime deficit to take the 67-61 victory, as four players scored in double figures with Steve Serio leading the way with 12 points and Joe Chambers recording 11 points. Pat Anderson led the Canadian effort with 27 points.

In the second game of the series, Joe Chambers bucketed 8 points and Josh Turek and Serio each chipped in 7 to give USA a 58-50 victory in a game that included five lead changes in the opening minutes of the final quarter. Anderson led Canada again, this time with 20 points.

Canada, silver medallists at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, got their first win of the series in the final matchup, as Anderson’s over-the-top 37-point performance and 8 points by Abdi Dini were good enough to pull out the 70-56 victory. Matt Scott led USA’s effort with 16 points.

Canada’s team will play a final tune-up tournament in the Netherlands from 16-19 August against Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands before traveling to Sheffield, Great Britain for a final training camp from 20-24 August.

USA enters the London 2012 Paralympics not having won a medal since the Sydney 2000 Games, but after winning gold at the 2011 Parapan American Games and the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup, they have high hopes for the big stage.