Bo Hedges and his Team Canada mates are one win away from playing for Paralympic gold.
Today in London, Canada will take on Great Britain in a men's wheelchair basketball semifinal. The winner will advance to face either the United States or Australia in Saturday's championship game.
Hedges, 32, is a former Prince George resident who obtained a business marketing degree at UNBC. He's a Team Canada captain and is appearing in his second Paralympics.
On Wednesday, Hedges was a key man in Canada's 77-51 quarterfinal victory against Spain. In the contest, he hit for 14 points in 27 minutes of playing time. Pat Anderson paced the Canadians with 16 points and Joey Johnson added 15.
"It is just a commitment by everybody for the last two years to train and to rely on one another, to believe in one another that we can all put the ball into the hoop and make the extra passes and have everybody finishing," Hedges said in reference to Team Canada's Wednesday win and its success so far in the tournament.
Canada defeated Great Britain 70-54 during preliminary play at the Paralympics and has a 6-0 record thus far.
In other quarterfinal results, Great Britain edged Turkey 75-70, the U.S. downed Germany 57-46 and Australia beat Poland 76-53.
Canada is trying to regain Paralympic gold after settling for silver in Beijing four years ago. In Beijing, Australia bounced Canada 72-60 in the gold-medal game. Canada entered those Games as two-time defending champions.
In women's wheelchair basketball, Team Canada features Prince George product Elisha Williams. On Tuesday, Canada lost 67-55 to the United States in a quarterfinal game. Today, with fifth place on the line, Canada will battle Mexico.
Today's semifinal games have the U.S. facing Australia and the Netherlands taking on Germany. The winners will meet for gold on Friday.
