Australia’s men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball teams have qualified for the 2018 World Championships with the men’s side, the Rollers, going undefeated to claim gold.
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The Rollers cruised through the round games winning by an average margin of 64 points with Roller Hawks big man Michael Auprince starring in the side’s opening game against Iraq with 21 points.
The Rollers then made short work of Hong Kong in the quarter finals winning 102-10 and securing their place at next year’s world championships in Hamburg in August.
The Rollers comfortably accounted for Korea in the semi-final, 81-50, while Iran upset Japan to book an unlikely gold medal match-up.
Leading by 12 at half-time, Australia’s depth shone through in the third quarter as the Rollers pulled away to a 23 point advantage by three-quarter time before eventually running out 80-54 winners. “By far the greatest group I have ever played alongside,” Auprince said. “No egos, no expectations. We played our roles and came together as a unit.”
Roller Hawk Brett Stibners scored 10 points in the final.
“Luke (Pople) and Macca (Auprince) made big contributions throughout the tournament,” Stibners said.
“The stand out players for us during the tournament were Tom O’Neill-Thorne and Jannick Blair. Both made the All-Star five.”
“The coaching staff were happy with our progress but were quick to point out we still have a long way to go and are still probably 15 to 20 points off of the USA.
“So we’ll have a lot of work to do before the World Championships next year.”
