Great Britain men restore pride after impressive win over Canada
Great Britain and Canada were expected to meet today on day eight of the World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Birmingham but few would have thought that it would be in the 5-8 classification game after both sides lost their quarter final matches yesterday.
GB started the game well with Simon Munn and Jon Hall scoring but Canada kept within touch after a five point haul from Dave Durepos including a superb three pointer. Both teams took their chances and the quarter was evenly matched but GB managed to pull ahead to end the quarter 17 – 13.
The second period started with Canada looking to bridge the gap and Adam Lancia helped to bring the scores level early on. A triple substitution by coach Murray Treseder saw Simon Brown, Ade Orogbemi and Gaz Choudhry come on and bring some extra impetus into the GB game. Brown scored his free throws after being fouled and the scores remained close throughout until a Jon Pollock three pointer and two free throws by Terry Bywater gave GB a half time lead of 31 – 27.
The third quarter could not have been more different from the previous two as Canada pushed on and punished GB at every opportunity. A strong Canada defence restricted GB to just seven points while Canada were relentless in their offensive plays and put 18 points on the board. A seemingly unassailable 12 point lead was built up by Canada before a quick three pointer and a field goal cut the deficit for GB to just seven points at the end of the quarter with the scores at 38 - 45.
The final quarter started with a lot of work for GB to do but they took to their task with aplomb. Canada looked a different side from the free scoring team of the previous quarter as they missed numerous opportunities. GB meanwhile were relentless and through some superb play by Terry Bywater and Jon Pollock they soon turned the seven point deficit into an eight point lead. Meanwhile it took seven minutes for Canada to score their first points of the quarter and their grip on the game was fading fast. Terry Bywater in particular continued to score points and the final quarter ended with a convincing 67 – 51 win for GB.
This emphatic performance from Murray Treseder’s side saw them score 29 points to Canada’s 6 and book a 5/6th place classification game against Poland on Friday.