Team Canada will compete for a bronze medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games when it faces Germany on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET at Bercy Arena.
The Senior Men’s National Team dropped an 80-43 decision to the United States in Thursday’s semifinals in Paris.
“We can work on some of our rotations,” said Nik Goncin. “The one guy that killed us was one guy that wasn’t on our depth chart as being that guy, so we’ll learn a little bit; watch a little extra video on Germany going back into it.”
Patrick Anderson had a team-high 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. Garrett Ostepchuk added 10 points, and Colin Higgins chipped in nine points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Team Canada was limited to 18 of 55 shooting in the loss, while the Americans finished at 60 per cent from the field.
“We came into the tournament as underdogs with the U.S. and Great Britain in mind as standing above the rest of the crowd. We came in here fighting and taking a swing, and they swung back,” said Anderson. “But we’re not out because we’ve still got Germany, and we know we can beat them.
“We’ll lick our wounds. It’s not fun to lose like that, but hats off to them; we have a lot of respect for those individuals and that program.”
Canada beat Germany 68-52 in group play on Monday.
Germany lost 71-43 to Great Britain on Thursday in the other semifinal.
“They got a big win under their belt against Spain in the quarterfinals, so I expect they’ll come in just a little bit more settled and confident, getting some shots to fall,” Anderson said. “I’m sure they’re going to flush their loss to GB just like we’re going to have to flush this USA game.
“They’ve beaten us this summer, we’ve got them, so I think it will be a pretty good matchup.”
On Thursday, Team Canada was outscored 19-7 in the third and trailed 59-39 heading into the fourth quarter.
Canada was down eight, 40-32 at halftime. The U.S. outscored Team Canada 25-16 in the second quarter, while the SMNT shot 14 of 27 through two periods.
Anderson paced Canada with 16 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Ostepchuk added four on a perfect 4 of 4 shooting from the field. Higgins chipped in six points, seven assists and three rebounds through two quarters.
Canada led 16-15 after one period.
Anderson led the way with six points, three rebounds, and two assists, and Ostepchuk scored six through one period.
Canada opened on an 8-2 run – Ostepchuk led the way with four points.
The SMNT last medalled at a Paralympics in 2012 when they won gold in London.
Complete stats from Thursday’s game can be found here.
Tournament schedule and results can be found on WBC’s website.
Images from the 2024 Paralympics can be found on the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s photo shelter here.
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Wheelchair Basketball Canada is the national sports governing body responsible for the organization of the sport in Canada. It is a non-profit, charitable organization committed to excellence in developing, supporting, and promoting wheelchair basketball programs and services from grassroots to high performance for all Canadians. Wheelchair basketball is a fast-paced, hard-hitting, competitive sport in which Canada is held in high esteem worldwide for winning a combined six gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in the last seven Paralympic Games. For more information, please visit wheelchairbasketball.ca.
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