Facing a must-win situation to keep their Paralympic dreams alive, the Canadian men’s basketball team defeated Argentina 70-62 on Saturday at the Parapan American Games.
That victory in Santiago, Chile, means they live to fight another day when it comes to qualifying for Paris 2024.
Edmonton’s Patrick Anderson scored a team-high 22 points for Canada, while Colin Higgins, from Rothesay, N.B., added 21 points and 11 assists.
With the bronze medal victory, the Canadians have assured themselves a spot in a last-chance qualifier next April.
“Can’t really overstate how big the stakes felt today not only for us but for our whole program moving forward. We bought ourselves another life here,” Anderson said.
“Still getting it done in smaller batches, I guess. Just enough today. It feels really good and a bit of relief. But it also feels like a step. When you’re a good team trying to be great there are very few easy steps.”
Anderson has been a leader within the program for more than two decades and was competing in his sixth Parapan Am Games at the age of 44.
He scored clutch points late in the game, including a deep three pointer, that sealed the victory for Canada.
“That was a tough one but we took it. And now we move onto the next one.”
“We’re trying to separate ourselves from the pack and establish ourselves in that upper echelon together. It’s still kind of new to me and we’re all trying to figure that out together. Scratch and claw to get up there with the big boys.”
Relief. Celebration. And now a chance to look forward and prepare for a crucial tournament in a few months to try and earn a berth to Paris.
The gold-medal winner in Santiago earned a direct berth to the Paralympics while second and third place earned a spot in a final tournament to determine the teams at Paris 2024.
Canada will now have to place within the top-four at the last-chance qualifying tournament in Antibes, France, in mid-April.
“Being in one of these last-chance tournaments is something I’ve never been part of. It’s going to be interesting. Really great teams aren’t going to make it to Paris,” Anderson said.
For Higgins, this was a big moment in his career with the national team, playing critical moments throughout the game and scoring 21 points to help lead the team to a crucial victory.
“It’s the game nobody wants to play in. It means you lost the day before but we have big goals for this team and had to beat a really good Argentina team,” he said.
“I think we’re gutsy. We’re a gutsy group. Guys stepped up and it’s great to see us all come together. There was a lot on the line. Big win for the program. We’ll enjoy the next little bit and get back to work.”
Wheelchair basketball has been contested at the Paralympics since 1960. It wasn’t until the 1990s Canadian teams started to assert dominance in the sport.
Throughout the 2000s, the Canadian men’s wheelchair basketball team was a force, winning gold at the 2000, 2004 and 2012 Paralympics.
Canada has competed in every Paralympics in men’s wheelchair basketball since 1968 and now they have a chance to keep that streak alive.
In Saturday’s bronze-medal match, Canada was able to blast out to an early 8-2 lead, forcing Argentina to take a timeout in an attempt to slow down the Canadian momentum.
Earlier in the competition during the preliminary games, Canada defeated Argentina 56-49 in a scrappy game.
After the first quarter the Canadians led 17-12.
In the second quarter, Canada mounted a nine-point lead before Argentina stormed back with a couple of quick baskets to make the score 23-18. This time it was the Canadians calling for a timeout to try and pull back the momentum that was starting to build on the Argentinian side.
And it worked.
Canada stopped Argentina’s offence on four consecutive possessions and cashed in on the other end of the floor, building back a seven-point lead with two minutes left in the half.
But Argentina would not go away easily, taking a 28-27 lead into halftime. Canadian coach Matteo Feriani, irate at the referees, was issued a technical foul.
Not a single foul was called against Argentina in the second quarter compared to five handed out to Canadian players.
Both teams increase the tempo
Whatever was said during halftime worked – the Canadians looked like a different team and retook the lead at the 7:13 mark of the third quarter, 35-33. A three-point play by Anderson gave the Canadians a 40-35 lead with 5:09 left in the third quarter.
Then the game hit a frenetic pace, with both team trading chances on opposite ends of the floor.
Argentina would then fight back, getting it back to level terms at 42-42 with 1:23 left in the third quarter forcing a Canadian timeout.
Higgins continued to play strong, getting to the free throw line late and giving Canada the slimmest of leads, 45-44, heading to the final quarter.
Both teams exchanged the lead over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter – Canada would go in front, then Argentina would answer. It was incredible drama as the pressure mounted down the stretch.
Canada wrestled back a larger advantage than just one point, going up three 53-50 with just 5:45 remaining in the game.
That lead extended to seven with four minutes left as the Canadians moved the ball around and outmatched their opponents.
Canada would close out the game from there with Anderson punctuating the victory with a three.
Canada collects pairs gold, mixed silver in boccia
Canada added to the four medals it captured in individual boccia play earlier this week.
Alison Levine and lulian Ciobanu of Montreal won gold over Leidy and Edilson Chica of Colombia in the BC4 pairs match.
Last December, Levine and Ciobanu won bronze in the event at the world championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Levine, now a three-time Parapan Am Games medallist, led Wednesday’s medal haul with her first individual gold medal.
Danik Allard, Kristy Collins and Lance Cryderman picked up silver in an 8-2 loss to Brazil in the BC1/BC2 gold-medal match.
Brazil set the tone with two points in the first of six ends. It increased the margin to 5-1 after the third before adding two points in the fourth end and a single in the fifth.
Allard and Cryderman won silver on Wednesday. In his Games debut, Allard lost 6-1 to Brazilian Maciel de Sousa Santos in the men’s BC2 final. The native of Bois-des-Filion, Que., is ranked 16th in the men’s BC2 division and made his Paralympic debut in Tokyo two years ago
Cryderman took silver in the men’s BC1 event in Santiago 23 years after his last multi-sport Games appearance in boccia.
Meier earns bronze in Para badminton sweep
Winnipeg’s Olivia Meier collected her third medal, a bronze in women’s Para badminton, at her second Parapan Am Games.
She swept Jenny Ventocilla of Peru 21-13, 21-18 at the Olympic Training Center.
Meier arrived in Santiago ranked 22nd in the world in women’s singles SL4 (standing category with physical impairments) category.
The 24-year-old, who started playing badminton when she was eight, is in her second year studying law at the University of Ottawa.
At the 2019 Parapan Am Games, she captured silver in singles and mixed doubles gold with Pascal Lapointe in Lima.
Two years ago, Meier was the first Canadian athlete to compete in badminton at a Paralympics, with the sport making its Games debut in Tokyo.