At the wheelchair basketball Canadian championship tournament, held this past weekend in Longueuil, Que., the Team B.C. men defeated Team Ontario 58-53 in the final. The B.C. squad included Prince George's Avril Harris and former P.G. residents Bo Hedges and Erik Hagreen.
With 2:40 to play, the clubs were tied 52-52. B.C. moved into a 56-53 lead with one minute left on the clock, before Richard Peter and Hedges each made single shots from the free-throw line and clinched the victory.
The national title was the fifth consecutive for B.C.
"As long as we keep getting solid contributions from our young guys coming in and the veterans keep playing at the same level, hopefully we can keep the streak going," Hedges said on the tournament website. "The same core group of guys have been playing together for 10 years, which really helps."
Hedges, a member of the senior national program, scored a team-high 17 points for B.C. and, along with Hagreen, was picked as a tournament all-star.
Hedges is a former UNBC student who now lives in Burnaby. Hagreen now resides in Vancouver.
Quebec beat Alberta 74-38 for bronze.
Hedges and the rest of the national team players will now start preparing for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. In November in Mexico, they will compete at the Parapan American Games, a qualifier for the Paralympics.
In the women's national tournament, also in Longueuil, Team Quebec doused the Edmonton Inferno 49-46 in the final. The national crown was the first-ever for a Quebec club.
In the bronze-medal game, the Calgary Rollers topped Team B.C. 53-44. Prince George's Elisha Williams was in uniform for Team B.C.
