Round up of the Classification Games at U23 World Championships

Game 36: 9th/10th Classification Game – United States v Italy

Following their previous win, the United States continued to build on their winning momentum to find a 65-48 victory against Italy and place ninth in the tournament. With the loss Italy places 10th.

Both teams were eager to finish the tournament on a winning note after each going 1-4 in preliminary round. The teams stayed neck and neck in the first half, with the Americans breaking away from a 28-28 tie just before half with a buzzer beating three point shot from Fabian Romo.

The rest of the game played out well for the United States, with Italy’s attempts to erase the deficit thwarted by the American defense. Romo notched a double double for the winning team with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Marshall Lindsay secured the game-high 20 points. For the Italian side, Sabri Bedzeti contributed 15 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.

“I’m proud of our guys, I think we played better ball each game and showed that when we spend a little bit of time together that we can certainly show some improvements,” said the head coach of the United States, Jeremy Lade. “We didn’t finish our layups as well as we wanted, we still had some turnovers but I think we played better ball as the tournament went along.”

Game 37: 7th/8th Classification Game – France v Iran

In the day’s second classification match, France found a solid 76-63 win against Iran to place seventh in the tournament while Iran placed eighth.

France hit their stride right from the tip off, going on a 13 point run in the first to lead by nine going into the second. Iran fought valiantly to close the gap, outscoring France by three in the second quarter and again in the third quarter.

France took away Iran’s hope of a comeback in the game’s final quarter, adding another 25 points to their total while Iran put up only 16. Alexis Ramonet of France was their top point producer with 27 points and Mohammadhassan Sayari topped the Iranian scoreboard with 24 points and an impressive 20 rebounds for a doube double.

“It was a great game and a great result for my team. I’m very happy for my players and for my staff because they put in a lot of work over many months, and I think it’s possible to win a higher place, maybe fifth, but it’s a good result,” said French head coach Stéphane Binot.

Game 38:  5t/6th Classification Game – Canada v Germany

The Canadian Men’s U23 Team end their run at the world championship with a sixth place finish after an admirable effort against Team Germany. The Germans claimed the 76-68 victory against Canada.

Germany dominated the first quarter and carved out a nine point lead that would help them secure the win. Successfully keeping the Germans from finding the net, the Canadians outscored Germany 18-15 in the second quarter.

The Canadians kept the pressure on Germany and with sharp shooting from Ben Moronchuk and Liam Hickey ensured it remained a tight game. With one minute remaining in the fourth quarter it was a five point game for Germany and Canada was unable to contend with the German defense to find the win.

Moronchuk and Hickey each produced 24 points for Canada while Germany’s Leon Schöneberg scored the game-high 29 points. Nico Dreimüller contributed a double double for Germany with 15 points and 11 assists.

“We’ve just improved in such a short amount of time. I’m just so proud of these guys, they play with their hearts and their emotion. Canada’s on their sleeve with Wheelchair Basketball Canada right there as well. Thank you to Wheelchair Basketball Canada for giving me the opportunity to coach these wonderful kids,” said Darrell Nordell, head coach of Canada. “We knew Germany is a tough team, they come out on us, they come up on chairs and we have to compete and we have to find where their mismatches are. We had a hard time at first matching up to some of their bigger guys, they were definitely going after our lower classes and that’s just good coaching. Congratulations to Peter and the group that he’s got there too, they’re a great bunch of athletes, we enjoyed playing them.”

Captain of the Canadian team, Alex Hayward, also discussed the team’s overall performance, “The tournament went well, I’m pretty sure we exceeding everyone’s expectations in how hard we compete, and not giving up and that was our biggest goal. Our big thing was no regrets at the end of it and I think we achieved that.”