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TEAM CANADA MEN:
 
The Canadian Men's National Team advanced to the gold medal game with a 56-52 defeat over the defending champions and hometown favourites from Great Britain. 

Canada secured the lead early in the game while Great Britain battled to remain within striking distance on the scoreboard. The Canucks pulled ahead in the third frame by outscoring Great Britain 17-6 for a 48-33 lead going into the final quarter. A late onslaught by the host team made for an exciting finish as Great Britain pulled to within two points in the dying seconds of the game, but Canada denied the comeback to seize the win.

“The team played very well through multiple line-ups, which was one of the team’s goals. This was a quality win, against a quality opponent. We did not beat them at all last year, so this was a good victory for us,” said Team Canada Head Coach Jerry Tonello.

The Canadian Men will face France in the gold medal game, a team to which they lost in the preliminary round. The gold medal game starts at 14:40 local time (BST).

Bowesy's Bulletin - A Game Recap by Program Coach Paul Bowes

Today’s game against host Great Britain is really a semi final as the winner will move on to place France in the final. Both teams suffered losses to France in the round robin. GB is the defending champ in the BT Paralympic Cup who defeated Canada in last year’s final.

It is great to play GB as their style, players and toughness mirrors our own team. They play hard, with great intensity and integrity for the game.

With the great depth at almost every classification, Coach Tonello is able to be able to roll starting line ups and today he has decided to go with Pat Anderson, Adam Lancia, Dave Durepos, Brandon Wagner and Abdi Dini Fatah.

The game opens with GB winning the tap but is unable to score on their first opportunity. In fact both teams struggle on their first few possessions as the defence is very tight. At the half way point of the first quarter, Canada leads 6 – 4 but more importantly, we are already in bonus with just under five minutes to play and are able to go 6/7 from the foul line to finish the quarter with a 20 – 12 lead.

Joe Johnson, Richard Peter and Chad Jassman enter the game for Canada and Peter makes an immediate impact with a layup and subsequent make on his foul shot. Great Britain however, in typical fashion, battle back with Terry Bywater leading the comeback for GB by capitalizing on Canadian turnovers for a quick five point swing. David Eng enters the game replacing Patrick Anderson who has picked up his 3rd foul. Eng slides under the defence and receives a quick pass from Johnson and converts the layup to stall the GB run. A final possession basket by GB cuts the Canadian lead to 31 – 27 at the half.

Jon Hall, another GB sharpshooter enters the game for GB and nails his first shot, his patented rolling bank shot from the right side and the lead is down to a mere two points. The teams traded baskets for the next few minutes when coach Tonello puts in Yvon Rouillard, Adam, Pat, Jassman and Fatah to press. This group worked extremely hard and did not allow GB another basket for the final four minutes of the quarter and went on a 10 point run to take the lead to 48 – 33 at the end of three quarters.

Basketball is a game of runs and GB had theirs to open the final quarter. An eight point run fuelled by turnovers, offensive fouls and bad shots brought the Canadian lead back down to seven with 3:39 left to play.

With Bywater nailing two free throws and a long range three pointer, the score was cut to 53 – 50 Canada with 30 seconds left to play. Anderson was fouled on the next play sending him to the line. His one for two from the line gave us a four point lead, however the Brits quickly countered and with ten seconds to play our lead was cut back down to two points. Johnson, Peter and Anderson spread the floor for the final ten seconds and played keep away to avoid being fouled until Anderson was eventually fouled. Anderson went to the line and calmly hit both free throws to extend our lead to four points, a two possession game essentially with less than nine seconds to play. The Brits attempted a three pointer with time running out but missed the shot to give Canada a 56 – 52 victory and a berth in the final against France.

Adam Lancia led all scorers with 16 points while Pat Anderson finished with 13.

-- Bowesy

TEAM CANADA WOMEN:
 
The Canadian Women's National Team will play in the bronze medal contest following a 52-37 loss to Germany in its final game of the preliminary round. 

Team Canada started strong to open the game and outscored Germany in both of the first two frames to take a 22-16 lead into the second half. Germany found its scoring touch in the final two frames and tallied 36 points compared to 15 by the Canadians to complete the comeback and earn a berth in the gold medal game.

The Canadian Women will face Japan in the bronze medal game as they try and rally for their first win of the tournament. Canada lost to Japan in the preliminary round in a thrilling double overtime game. The bronze medal game begins at 17:05 local time (BST).