FIBA/IWBF – Japanese scrape narrow win over Germany; Brits fall to Aussies

BEIJING (Wheelchair Basketball) - Japan edged Germany by just two points and Australia thrashed Great Britain on the second day’s play of the men’s Wheelchair Basketball tournament at the Paralympics.

Beaten narrowly by Canada in their opener, the Germans suffered an agonizing setback for the second game in a row.

Here is a look at all of the games.

Japan 58 Germany 56

Japanese guard Shingo Fujii's lay-up with five seconds left on the clock lifted Japan to a 58-56 win over Germany in a group A preliminary game on Monday.

Japan’s 50 percent shooting from the floor offset Germany's aggressive play that forced 21 Japanese turnovers.

Germany made 62 percent of its free throws, but was hindered by a lower field goal percentage. The team was ultimately unable to overtake Japan, despite gaining possession in the final seconds of the game following Fujii's clutch shot.

Japanese center Reo Fujimoto had the most rebounds of the game (15, all of which were defensive rebounds), and forward Hiroaki Kozai was the game's top scorer with 20 points.

"We did play very well today in terms of speed, because we concentrated better today," said Japanese guard Keisuke Koretomo after the match. "We prepared enough, but we had some pressure. Some young players are not experienced and made some mistakes."

Both teams will play their third group A games on Tuesday at the USTB Gymnasium (Germany vs. South Africa, Japan vs. Iran).

Australia 67 Great Britain 48

Australia handed Great Britain its first defeat of the tournament, 67-48, in a group B preliminary game on Monday.

Three Australian players -- center Brad Ness, forward Shaun Norris and forward Justin Eveson -- contributed 45 of Australia's 67 points. Ness, who scored four late points in Australia’s opening day triumph, was the game's high scorer with 16 points, and he also had the most rebounds and assists.

Australia and Great Britain were similarly successful at the free throw line, making 69 percent and 57 percent, respectively, of their free throws. Several missed field goals and two-point shots, however, prevented the British team from keeping the score closer.

Otherwise, the two sides were fairly even in key areas of the game including points scoring in the paint (30 points for Australia, 24 for the Great Britain) and rebounds (35 boards for Australia, 30 for the Great Britain).

"It's been a grueling day. We have all sorts of problems," British guard Jon Pollock commented on the loss. "Three main players came down with illness today, which affected our team today. If we didn't have illness, it would be a different matter."

Australia is 2-0 and the Great Britain is 1-1 in the tournament after two games. Both teams will play their third pool B preliminary matches on Tuesday at the National Indoor Stadium (Australia vs. China, Great Britain vs. US).

USA 97 Brazil 41

Paul Schulte of the United States scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half, as his side thrashed Brazil 87-41 to stay unbeaten after two group B matches.

A silver medalist at Sydney 2000, Schulte was perfect behind the arc, making all four of his attempts before the main break as the United States closed out the first two quarters in the lead 39-23. Jeff Glasbrenner had 13 points and Joe Chambers added 11 points.

Brazil's top players, Erick Silva and Irio Nunes, combined for only nine points in the first half after jointly racking up 49 points on Sunday's match against Australia.

The Brazilians were suffocated by their opponent's intensive full-court defensive pressure led by Matt Scott, and the South Americans struggled to take open shots, especially in the third quarter, when they stayed scoreless during the first nine minutes.

Paul Jackson, one of the US assistant coaches, was showing different numbers to the players to change their defensive strategy on every Brazil's attack. The US capitalized on steals and defensive rebounds to score 22 points from turnovers.

The US team will face Great Britain in its third match, while Brazil will meet Israel. Both games will be played at the National Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, September 9.

Israel 80 China 41

Israel recovered fast from Sunday's loss to the United States as the team beat China 80-41 in its second group B match.

Roei Rozenberg had a game-high 19 points, while Lior Dror and Dotan Meishar contributed 16 and 15 points, respectively, and combined for 19 rebounds.

Israel started strong from the tip-off, with tough defense and taking the ball to the paint, where the team capitalized on its opponents' smaller size and scored 50 points in the key and added 10 second chance points off eight offensive rebounds.

Huang Xunan was China's best player. The 23-year-old forward posted 15 points and six rebounds. Chen Guojon was the other Chinese player to reach double figures with 10 points.

"This game we wanted to give more players a chance to play on the court, really show their skills and see how it works with different combinations of players," said Israeli player Dror after the match. "We have to make sure we are ready for the next match. So we will study them, find their strengths and try to stop them."

Israel, with a 1-1 record will meet winless Brazil (0-2), while China (0-2) will face Australia. Both matches will be played at the Indoor National Stadium on Tuesday, September 9.

Iran 92 Sweden 66

Alireza Ahmadi, Adel Torfi Meneshidi and Morteza Gharibloo delivered flawless performances with combined a 80 points to lead Iran to upset Sweden 92-66 in its second group A match on Monday.

Guard Ahmadi controlled the rhythm of the match, scoring seven three-pointers out of 16 attempts and making eight assists. Center Meneshidi and Gharibloo showed themselves very effective as they netted 23 of their 38 shots from the floor and together added 30 rebounds.

The 2007 European champion couldn't break Iran's defensive lock. Iran knew Sweden's strengths were inside the paint, so the team placed its five players close to the key and blocked the European guards from dishing the ball to their interior players.

Sweden's Hussein Haidari, who had 26 points on Sunday's win over Japan, only posted nine points against Iran. Joachim Gustavsson was Sweden's top scorer, with 20 points.

The winning team was supported by a noisy crowd during the 40 minutes.

"I'm a professional player in Italy's wheelchair basketball league so I have a lot of experiences," Ahmadi said. "Win, win, win. We want to win all of our games. Sweden has a higher ranking than us but we beat them by 26 points. In a basketball match this is a big margin."

Iran remains undefeated after two matches and will next face Japan at the USTB Gymnasium. Sweden (1-1) will have a difficult challenge as it will face the Paralympic and World champions Canada at the National Indoor Stadium. Both matches will be played on Tuesday, September 9.

Canada 80 South Africa 55

Patrick Anderson only needed 16 minutes in the first half to score his 16 points to lead the reigning Paralympic champions to an 80-55 victory over South Africa in Group A.

Anderson, with eight rebounds and five assists, did not come back to the court in the second half since his team's lead was never in jeopardy.

The Canadian offense was well distributed with nine of Anderson's teammates scoring points. Four Canadians reached double figures -- David Durepos, Richard Peter, Joey Johnson and Adam Lancia -- due to the team's ability to find the extra pass (21 assists in the game) and their superiority near the basket (50 points in the paint).

South Africa, who placed 12th at Athens, showed some skills in the third quarter when the team came as close as 14 points (60-46) with some fast breaks. Nicholas Taylor led the South Africans in scoring with 18 points, while David Nathaniel Curle posted 16 points and captain Marius Papenfus added 13 points.

"It's been an interesting tournament," said Anderson. "The world is catching up and it's probably the world's deepest 12 teams competing at these Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games."

Canada (2-0) will next play Sweden (1-1) at the National Indoor Stadium while South Africa (0-2) will meet Germany at the USTB Gymnasium. Both matches will be played on Tuesday, September 9.

FIBA