FIBA/IWBF –Defending champs Canadians demolish Japan to stay unbeaten

BEIJING (Paralympics) – Canada remained red hot at the Paralympics by thrashing Japan 75-48 for their fourth successive win in the men’s wheelchair basketball competition.

The defending Olympic champions got a big game from David Durepos, who had 22 points.

South Africa, Germany, Australia, the United States and Great Britain also won their clashes.

Here is a look at the latest action.

Canada 75 Japan 48

Defending Paralympic champions Canada stayed unbeaten in the tournament after overwhelming Japan 75-48 in group A.

Canada dominated on both ends of the floor. Offensively, they were outstanding and especially in the third quarter when outscoring Japan 21-5. Canada came up with 11 steals.

"I think this was our best game of the tournament," said Canada’s Patrick Anderson. "It means a lot to have a good game and to play our game, especially as we roll into the medal round. We don't want to end on a flat note. We want to stay as sharp as we can be."

Japan slumped to 1-3 with the defeat.

In their next group A games, Canada face Iran and Japan take on South Africa.

South Africa 64 Sweden 58

Winless in the team's first three games, South Africa notched its first victory by defeating Sweden 64-58 in group A.

South Africa poured on the offense in the fourth quarter, outscoring Sweden 26-16. Forward Richard Nortje was the game's leading scorer with 26 points. Three other South Africans scored in double digits.

Both teams are now 1-3.

"The scores were rather close during the first two quarters. We lost the third quarter, which I hoped we could win," said South African coach Vivian Sierra. "In the last quarter, we managed to do well and finally won the match because our players believed in themselves and had high spirit to fight for South Africa. The Swedish team also did a good job. They imposed a lot of pressure on us. The match was fantastic."

In their fifth group A games on Thursday, Sweden meet Germany and South Africa square off against Japan.

Germany 73 Iran 63.

Germany defeated previously unbeaten Iran 73-63 in group A.

German center Dirk Kohler-Lenz was the game's leading scorer with 23 points and he also grabbed 16 of his team's 39 rebounds.

Three Iranians scored in double digits, led by center Morteza Gharibloo’s 22 points.

Germany are now 2-2 and Iran 3-1.

"To walk away from today's match with a victory was the most important thing," German coach Frits Wiegmann said.

"We played quite well and I am happy with the team's performance. We are planning to smash Sweden and then to either get Great Britain or Israel in the next round."

In their fifth group A games on Thursday, Iran go up against Canada Germany clash with Sweden.

Australia 66 Israel 59

Australia rallied in the last two minutes to beat Israel 66-59 to improve to 4-0.

The game was knotted at 59-59 with two minutes left when the Aussies reeled off seven straight points.

Justin Eveson and Brad Ness of Australia hit key free throws to seal the victory.

Ness led his team in scoring with 30 points, including a 10-of-13 effort from the free-throw line. He also hauled down 10 rebounds.

Eveson was five of six from the floor and finished with 13 points.

"It [the performance] was scratchy but a win is a win," said captain Ness. "It's nice to know we can come back at the crunch. You can have all the strategy in the world but at the end of the day it's what you bring to the court."

Israel was up during many parts of the game but failed to close it. Roei Rozenberg had a team-high 17 points, while Dotan Meishar weighed in with 15 while also pulling down 17 rebounds.

Liran Hendel and Lior Dror scored 11 points apiece.

Australia will next meet the United States to decide first place in group B while Israel will take on Great Britain.

United States 97 China 38

The United States recovered fast from Tuesday's loss to Great Britain with a 97-38 destruction of China.

The US team dominated the hosts in every part of the game from tip-off to the final buzzer. Ten US players scored and four of them reached double figures, led by Jeff Glasbrenner’s 16.

Paul Schulte (15 points), Matt Scott (14) and Jay Nelms (12) also had big games for the Americans.

The contest was effectively over after the first quarter when Team USA had a 25-7 lead. The United States converted 20 Chinese turnovers in the first half into 21 points.

Ding Hai was China's top scorer with 21 points and he also corralled 14 rebounds. Yang Lei committed 10 turnovers for the Chinese.

"We had a lot of fun out there today," said US captain Mikey Paye after the match. "We came out of a tough loss yesterday [on Tuesday against Great Britain] and I think that the performance today spoke for itself. We came out, we had fun and we won."

The United States (3-1) will play Australia (4-0) in its last preliminary round match while China (0-4) will meet winless Brazil.

Great Britain 69 Brazil 53

Great Britain forward Simon Munn had a game-high 26 points and grabbed 21 of the British team's 47 rebounds in a convincing victory.

Brazil dropped to 0-4 in the tournament with Irio Nunes the only Brazilian to score in the double figures with 11.

"I think it went reasonably well," Munn said. "We're glad of the win. We absorbed the pressure and got the job done. We got bronze four years ago, so to equal that or even better it would be fantastic. We have four new guys and we're always building. To win the gold medal would be amazing."

Great Britain is 3-1 and Brazil 0-4.

Both teams will play their fifth group B preliminary games on Thursday.

Great Britain go up against Israel and Brazil meet China.

FIBA