Going through a must-win scenario to maintain their Paralympic goals alive, the Canadian males’s basketball group defeated Argentina 70-62 on Saturday on the Parapan American Video games.
That victory in Santiago, Chile, means they reside to struggle one other day in relation to qualifying for Paris 2024.
Edmonton’s Patrick Anderson scored a team-high 22 factors for Canada, whereas Colin Higgins, from Rothesay, N.B., added 21 factors and 11 assists.
With the bronze medal victory, the Canadians have assured themselves a spot in a last-chance qualifier subsequent April.
“Cannot actually overstate how massive the stakes felt at present not just for us however for our complete program shifting ahead. We purchased ourselves one other life right here,” Anderson mentioned.
“Nonetheless getting it accomplished in smaller batches, I suppose. Simply sufficient at present. It feels actually good and a little bit of aid. But it surely additionally seems like a step. Once you’re an excellent group making an attempt to be nice there are only a few straightforward steps.”
Anderson has been a frontrunner inside the program for greater than 20 years and was competing in his sixth Parapan Am Video games on the age of 44.
He scored clutch factors late within the sport, together with a deep three pointer, that sealed the victory for Canada.
“That was a tricky one however we took it. And now we transfer onto the subsequent one.”
“We’re making an attempt to separate ourselves from the pack and set up ourselves in that higher echelon collectively. It is nonetheless type of new to me and we’re all making an attempt to determine that out collectively. Scratch and claw to rise up there with the massive boys.”
Aid. Celebration. And now an opportunity to look ahead and put together for a vital event in a couple of months to attempt to earn a berth to Paris.
The gold-medal winner in Santiago earned a direct berth to the Paralympics whereas second and third place earned a spot in a ultimate event to find out the groups at Paris 2024.
Canada will now have to position inside the top-four on the last-chance qualifying event in Antibes, France, in mid-April.
“Being in one among these last-chance tournaments is one thing I’ve by no means been a part of. It’ll be attention-grabbing. Actually nice groups aren’t going to make it to Paris,” Anderson mentioned.
For Higgins, this was a giant second in his profession with the nationwide group, taking part in vital moments all through the sport and scoring 21 factors to assist lead the group to a vital victory.
“It is the sport no person needs to play in. It means you misplaced the day earlier than however we have now massive objectives for this group and needed to beat a very good Argentina group,” he mentioned.
“I feel we’re gutsy. We’re a gutsy group. Guys stepped up and it is nice to see us all come collectively. There was quite a bit on the road. Large win for this system. We’ll benefit from the subsequent little bit and get again to work.”
Wheelchair basketball has been contested on the Paralympics since 1960. It wasn’t till the Nineties Canadian groups began to claim dominance within the sport.
All through the 2000s, the Canadian males’s wheelchair basketball group was a power, successful gold on the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Paralympics.
Canada has competed in each Paralympics in males’s wheelchair basketball since 1968 and now they’ve an opportunity to maintain that streak alive.
In Saturday’s bronze-medal match, Canada was capable of blast out to an early 8-2 lead, forcing Argentina to take a timeout in an try and decelerate the Canadian momentum.
Earlier within the competitors throughout the preliminary video games, Canada defeated Argentina 56-49 in a scrappy sport.
After the primary quarter the Canadians led 17-12.
Within the second quarter, Canada mounted a nine-point lead earlier than Argentina stormed again with a few fast baskets to make the rating 23-18. This time it was the Canadians calling for a timeout to attempt to pull again the momentum that was beginning to construct on the Argentinian facet.
And it labored.
Canada stopped Argentina’s offence on 4 consecutive possessions and cashed in on the opposite finish of the ground, constructing again a seven-point lead with two minutes left within the half.
However Argentina wouldn’t go away simply, taking a 28-27 lead into halftime. Canadian coach Matteo Feriani, irate on the referees, was issued a technical foul.
Not a single foul was referred to as in opposition to Argentina within the second quarter in comparison with 5 handed out to Canadian gamers.
Each groups enhance the tempo
No matter was mentioned throughout halftime labored – the Canadians seemed like a special group and retook the lead on the 7:13 mark of the third quarter, 35-33. A 3-point play by Anderson gave the Canadians a 40-35 lead with 5:09 left within the third quarter.
Then the sport hit a frenetic tempo, with each group buying and selling possibilities on reverse ends of the ground.
Argentina would then struggle again, getting it again to stage phrases at 42-42 with 1:23 left within the third quarter forcing a Canadian timeout.
Higgins continued to play sturdy, attending to the free throw line late and giving Canada the slimmest of leads, 45-44, heading to the ultimate quarter.
Each groups exchanged the lead over the primary three minutes of the fourth quarter – Canada would go in entrance, then Argentina would reply. It was unbelievable drama because the stress mounted down the stretch.
Canada wrestled again a bigger benefit than only one level, going up three 53-50 with simply 5:45 remaining within the sport.
That lead prolonged to seven with 4 minutes left because the Canadians moved the ball round and outmatched their opponents.
Canada would shut out the sport from there with Anderson punctuating the victory with a 3.
Canada collects pairs gold, blended silver in boccia
Canada added to the 4 medals it captured in particular person boccia play earlier this week.
Alison Levine and lulian Ciobanu of Montreal received gold over Leidy and Edilson Chica of Colombia within the BC4 pairs match.
Final December, Levine and Ciobanu received bronze within the occasion on the world championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Levine, now a three-time Parapan Am Video games medallist, led Wednesday’s medal haul together with her first particular person gold medal.
Danik Allard, Kristy Collins and Lance Cryderman picked up silver in an 8-2 loss to Brazil within the BC1/BC2 gold-medal match.
Brazil set the tone with two factors within the first of six ends. It elevated the margin to 5-1 after the third earlier than including two factors within the fourth finish and a single within the fifth.
Allard and Cryderman received silver on Wednesday. In his Video games debut, Allard misplaced 6-1 to Brazilian Maciel de Sousa Santos within the males’s BC2 ultimate. The native of Bois-des-Filion, Que., is ranked sixteenth within the males’s BC2 division and made his Paralympic debut in Tokyo two years in the past
Cryderman took silver within the males’s BC1 occasion in Santiago 23 years after his final multi-sport Video games look in boccia.
Meier earns bronze in Para badminton sweep
Winnipeg’s Olivia Meier collected her third medal, a bronze in ladies’s Para badminton, at her second Parapan Am Video games.
She swept Jenny Ventocilla of Peru 21-13, 21-18 on the Olympic Coaching Middle.
Meier arrived in Santiago ranked twenty second on this planet in ladies’s singles SL4 (standing class with bodily impairments) class.
The 24-year-old, who began taking part in badminton when she was eight, is in her second 12 months finding out regulation on the College of Ottawa.
On the 2019 Parapan Am Video games, she captured silver in singles and blended doubles gold with Pascal Lapointe in Lima.
Two years in the past, Meier was the primary Canadian athlete to compete in badminton at a Paralympics, with the game making its Video games debut in Tokyo.
