Paris, France (Aug. 31, 2024) — Team USA men’s wheelchair basketball’s quest for a third consecutive gold medal is off to a flaming hot start.
Two days after knocking off Spain by ten points, the U.S. carried that momentum and then some into Saturday’s tilt against the Netherlands. Team USA jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back en route to a 60-34 victory. The U.S. is now 2-0 in group play.
“We had two games against two really good opponents,” said Steve Serio, Team USA captain. “They were great opponents for us to see some things that we do well as a team, but also some things that we need to work on. We know that we don’t have to be gold-medal ready this very second because we have room to grow as a team.”
“The game plan was (to) execute and key in on their top scorers,” explained Brian Bell, now a three-time Paralympian. “We know we can improve upon that even more.”
The Netherlands got the scoring started 15 seconds into the game after a bucket from Frank de Jong. That was the last bucket from the Dutch until there were 21 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Team USA scored 16 straight points to build an early lead, highlighted by six points from Serio and four each from Bell and Jake Williams. The U.S. lead after the first ten minutes sat at 17-4.
Neither the second quarter nor the third was as smooth a ride. The Netherlands outscored the U.S. 28-26 over the middle 20 minutes of the contest, in large part due to Mendel Op den Orth’s offensive heroics. The now-two-time Paralympian tallied 26 of the Netherlands’ 34 points in the game, most of which came in quarters number two and three.
“I think when they went on a run, it was our defense that let us down,” recalled Williams. “The quicker that we can snap back to that (good defense), the better off we’ll be.”
Despite dominating the second and third quarters, Op den Orth was nowhere to be found on the court over the final 10 minutes. The U.S. took full advantage of his absence. Team USA dominated the final quarter, outscoring the Netherlands 17-2 to build an insurmountable lead. Bell, Williams, and Serio paced the U.S. with 18, 17, and 13 points respectively.
“We just had to get back to what we were doing in the first quarter,” said Bell. “That was kind of the talk at halftime, making sure we stick to the game plan and execute that, and that’s what we did once we came back out.”
Team USA concludes group…