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Summer Universiade (Aug. 22): Team Canada daily recap (#11)
Photo credit Freestyle Photography
SHENZHEN, China (CIS) – They had dominated teams in the
second half throughout the 26th Summer Universiade, but on Monday
night, on the biggest stage, Canada’s dreams of gold faded
away over the final 20 minutes, as Serbia prevailed 68-55 to claim
their second straight FISU men’s basketball championship.
The game marked Canada’s fifth all-time appearance in a FISU
men’s basketball final and their fourth silver medal, the
first since placing second in 1997 in Sicily, Italy. Canada was
hoping for its second Universiade title, 28 years after its triumph
in Edmonton.
It was also Canada’s seventh overall medal at the Shenzhen
games.
The Canadians had previously beaten Serbia 70-67 in their second
match during pool play but the story of Monday night’s game
was Canada’s anemic offensive performance in the second half.
The Canadians shot a paltry 4-for-26 in the final two quarters,
unable to even hit one field goal in the third after leading 34-32
at halftime.
Mladen Jeremic scored 17 points in the win, as the Serbians used
their significant size advantage to create space in the half court,
slowing the game to a crawl over the final 20 minutes to win.
“I’m really not sure what happened, we just started
missing shots and couldn’t get into any type of
rhythm,” said Team Canada head coach Kevin Hanson of the
second half. “It’s been a tremendous journey,
I’ve loved working with our coaching staff, our training
staff and these players have been just tremendous. With only four
days to work together before this tournament started, I don’t
think a lot of people back home thought we would make it this far,
this is a gutsy group of guys and I am extremely proud.”
Ottawa’s Tyson Hinz and Nathan Yu of Prince George, B.C.,
tied for the team lead with 14 points for Canada in the loss. Hinz
generated the first ten points of the game for Canada but was held
without a field goal for the remaining 36 minutes, missing his next
13 attempts from the floor.
“All the credit goes to Serbia, they stayed aggressive and we
just weren’t aggressive enough,” said Hinz, who won the
2011 CIS national championship as a student at Carleton University
and is the reigning CIS player of the year. “Our goal was to
win gold, and to come this close is tough. This group did a great
job to come together in such short a time, but we were one win away
from what we wanted to accomplish.”
In men’s volleyball, Canada (5-2) was looking for its third-ever podium finish but came up short against Brazil (6-1) in the bronze-medal game, losing in four sets of 25-20, 25-15, 19-25 and 25-19. Spencer Leiske of Lacombe, Alta., recorded a match-high 18 kills but it wasn’t enough against a talented Brazilian side considered by many as a gold-medal favourite heading into the competition.
“We played a really good team and were just ok the first two sets before stepping it up in the third, “said Leiske. “We were looking for the win but Top 4 in the world feels good. Lots of teams would like to be in our position today and we’re happy about our overall team performance at the Universiade.”
Canada’s two medals in men’s volleyball at the FISU games – both silver – came in 1983 in Edmonton and 2007 in Bankgok.
In men’s soccer, Canada (3-2-1) ended the Universiade tournament on a three-game winning streak thanks to a 1-0 victory over Colombia (2-4), good for ninth place overall. This marks Canada’s second best result in seven all-time appearances at the FISU tourney, trailing only a fourth-place finish in 2007. Adrian Pena of Woodbridge, Ont., who entered the game with 20 minutes left, scored the lone goal in the 72th minute, while Sotiri Varlokostas of Toronto earned the shutout.
“After we took third place in our group and were out of the medal round, this is the best finish we could hope for,” said Canadian head coach Steve Hart. “Our pool was very competitive, two teams from our group, Japan and Great Britain, are playing in the final.”
In taekwondo, all three Canadian fighters in action on Monday were ousted in their first bout, in the round of 16. In women’s +73kg, Rachelle Caruso of Niagara Falls, Ont., was dominated 18-2 by Russia’s Olga Ivanova. In men’s -74kg, Jason Song of Vancouver dropped a 9-4 decision to Elvin Mammadov of Azerbaijan. In men’s +87kg, Kevin Hatt of Cole Harbour, N.S., lost 9-3 to Hungary’s Balazs Toth.
