Posted: Aug 21, 2011
Photo Credit Freestyle Photography
SHENZHEN, China (CIS) – For the first time in 14 years, Canada is one win away from a gold medal in men’s basketball at the Summer Universiade. Leaving nothing to chance, the Canadians never trailed on Sunday in their semifinal against Lithuania, winning 83-68 to advance to their first world university games final since 1997 in Sicily, Italy.
Canada (5-1) will face defending champion Serbia (5-1) on
Monday at 9:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET) in its fifth final in
20 appearances at the FISU tournament. The game can be seen
streaming on www.livefisu.tv.
The Serbians defeated Russia 81-61 in the other semifinal. The Canadians beat Serbia 70-67 in their second Pool B outing on Aug. 14.
“It’s fabulous,” said Team Canada bench boss Kevin Hanson of making the gold medal final. “These guys are all very focused, this is a mature group and we have been following that old cliché of ‘one game at a time.”
Ottawa native Tyson Hinz continued to be Canada’s go-to scorer and left the court with 21 points before fouling out late in the fourth, marking his third 20-plus point performance of the tournament.
“The guy is a winner, the fact that we are running everything through him isn’t a surprise to anybody,” said Hanson of his star forward. “He’s a bit undersized in the post, and a lot of people back home were questioning whether he can play internationally, and I think he is proving that he can right now.”
Hinz started slow, Lithuania keyed defensively on the reigning Canadian Interuniversity Sport player of the year, and he had only five points at the half. The Carleton University forward finished the game 6-for-14 from the field, including two three-pointers, and is averaging a team-best 16.2 points per game through six FISU contests.
“We are playing really well as a team and in particular we are defending well as a team,” said Hinz, who has led Canada in scoring in four of six games. “If they are going to key in on me, someone always steps up, whether it’s Boris [Bakovic], Warren [Ward], or someone else, we find a way.”
Lithuania (5-2) was perhaps suffering from an emotional and physical letdown after their 76-74 quarter-final upset of the United States on Saturday night and it showed in the first half, as the Canadians came out gunning. Toronto’s Bakovic scored the first eight points of the game for Canada, including two three-pointers, to open the quarter on an 8-to-2 run. The Canucks led 24-18 at the end of the first, and went into halftime up 39-29.
Bakovic and Ward each finished the game with 16 points, while Gediminas Zyle led Lithuania with 15.
In women’s soccer, Canada (4-2) matched its best Universiade finish in history, earning fifth place thanks to a 1-0 shutout of Russia (1-2-2). Gillian Baggott of Ottawa scored the game’s lone goal in the 52nd minute, while keeper Rachel Bedek of St. Thomas, Ont., earned her third whitewash of the tournament. Canada had previously finished fifth in 1993 in Buffalo when women’s soccer made its world university games debut, and in 2005 in Izmir, Turkey.
The women’s basketball tournament also came to an end on Sunday, with Canada (2-3) dropping a 71-52 decision to Russia (5-1) to finish the competition in sixth position, its best result since the 2001 games in Beijing. Kendel Ross had 17 points in the losing cause. The native of Sarnia, Ont., was the top Canadian scorer in every contest in Shenzhen.
On the final day of athletics, only one Canadian was in action, in the women’s 1,500m final. Kate Van Buskirk, Brampton, Ont., crossed the finish line in 10th place thanks to a personal best time of 4:12.28. After capturing eight medals at the last world university games in 2009, Canada’s track and field team was kept off the podium at the Universiade Center Stadium.
In taekwondo, Vadim Korotchenko of Vancouver was no match for Iran’s Mehran Askari in the round of 32 at -80kg, losing a lopsided affair 12-0.
In rhythmic gymnastics, on the second and last day of the individual all-around final, Jessica Ho of Vancouver upped her total to 90.625 points to finish in 26th place, while Kelsey Anderson of Vernon, B.C., was 29th with 87.925 points. Russia’s Evgeniya Kanaeva (115.350) ran away with the gold medal.