Canada falls to U.S. in Paralympic basketball semifinal – The Toronto Observer

The Canadian men’s basketball team came up short on Thursday, falling 80-43 to the United States in the Paralympic semifinals at Bercy Arena in Paris.

Brian Bell led Team USA with a 31-point, 10-assist double-double, while Jake Williams finished with a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double of his own to send the Americans to the gold medal match against Great Britain.

Patrick Anderson led Canada with 16 points, while Garrett Ostepchuk added 10 points in a losing effort.

While they never pulled ahead with a sizeable lead, the Canadians led for the majority of the first quarter with contributions from Ostepchuk and Anderson. However, U.S. co-captain Steve Serio finished with five consecutive points to close out the quarter to make it a one-point game.

The Americans managed to build on their momentum early in the second quarter, creating an eight-point lead with 4:09 left in the half. Anderson then hit a huge three-pointer to cut the deficit to five, but that’s as close as the Canadians would get, with Bell and Serio dominating at both ends of the floor to make it 40-32 after the opening 20 minutes.

Canada was unable to make any progress in the third quarter, as the U.S. defence held them to just seven points in the frame while scoring 17 of their own. The fourth quarter was even more impressive at both ends of the floor for the Americans, outscoring Canada 21-4 to secure the victory.

The Americans shot an impressive 60% from the field in the contest and dominated Canada on the glass, out-rebounding the Canucks 40-22.

Canada will now take on Germany in the bronze medal match on Saturday, looking to claim its first medal in Paralympic wheelchair basketball since it won gold in London back in 2012.

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