By Wheelchair Basketball Canada
Photo Credit: Grégory Picout/Fédération Française Handisport
Team Canada fell 62-45 to the Netherlands on Friday at the Men’s IWBF Repechage Tournament in Antibes, France.
The Senior Men’s National Team was paced by eight points from Patrick Anderson (Fergus, Ont.) and Chad Jassman (Calgary, Alta.). Anderson added seven rebounds and six assists. Colin Higgins (Rothesay, N.B.) chipped in seven points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Bo Hedges (Wonowon, B.C.) and Vincent Dallaire (Quebec City, Que.) each had six points.
“First game, not that it doesn’t matter, but we’ve got two left before the crossover—the crossover game is going to be the important one, so it’s a building block for us,” said Nik Goncin, who finished with four points, five rebounds, and three assists. “There are some gaps that I’m sure other teams are going to try and capitalize on, so we’ve got to clean stuff up.
“I think we were slightly less aggressive in the second half, so they got a bit closer to their spots, and they hit a few shots that they didn’t in the first half – just slowly edging their way away from us. There weren’t any drastic changes, but they came out at half with a new plan and executed better than we did.”
Canada was held to 20 of 58 shooting from the field, while the Netherlands shot 43 per cent.
The SMNT trailed 41-31 after three quarters. Canada was outscored 20-10 in the period.
The Netherlands went on an 8-0 run in the third quarter to pull ahead 33-24.
Hedges had six, and Higgins had five through three quarters.
Canada led by as many as four points in the second quarter, but the two sides were tied 21-21 at the break.
Anderson had a team-high five points and four rebounds, while Goncin (Regina, Sask.) chipped in four points and four rebounds off the bench.
Canada shot 9 of 27 from the field through two quarters while holding the Netherlands to 33 per cent shooting.
Canada trailed by one, 14-13 after the first period.
Garrett Ostepchuk (Regina, Sask.) paced the SMNT with four points. Anderson had three points and two assists.
The repechage tournament is a final opportunity for teams who did not qualify for the Paris Games through their zone qualifier to earn a spot at the Paralympic Games.
The tournament consists of two groups that will establish rankings for crossover matches. The knockout stage will unveil the four teams that earn a berth in the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Up next, Canada faces France at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Full stats from Canada’s game against the Netherlands can be found here.
