TORONTO — Nik Goncin couldn’t explain what had just happened.
The 23-year-old guard on Canada’s men’s wheelchair basketball team, one of the leading scorers in this tournament, had just watched the rival Americans dominate his team in nearly every way.
"I don’t know," said Goncin, who’s from Regina. "I want to look at video before I say anything. They’re a really good team, they always finish top two, three in the world. We were expecting a tough game—we were hoping it would be closer."
On the final day of the Parapan American Games, which organizers dubbed Super Saturday, Canada’s last shot at gold in front of a boisterous crowd that included costumed Canadians and painted chests and flags and giant red hats, came up well short as Team USA stormed to a 62-39 victory. Canada was never really in this one. It was not a Super Saturday, after all.
The table, it seemed, was set for a good old North American rivalry to decide basketball gold. Canada’s men are the reigning Paralympic champions, and the U.S. are defending Parapan Am Games champions. Canada won bronze four years ago in Guadalajara, while the Americans took bronze in 2014 in London, and both teams had posted pretty lop-sided scores over their competitors heading into the final.
But Canada shot 31 percent from the field. That, really, was the story of this one.
And it was not a hot start for Canada. Veteran David Eng, the 38-year-old from Montreal who led the tournament in scoring and averaged nearly 18 points per game heading into the gold medal final, scored six of Canada’s just eight points in the first quarter, and the Americans entered the second quarter with a 10-point lead. It only got worse after that: the Americans stretched their lead to 24, up 40-16 at the half.
Not that Canada gave up fighting: Coach Steve Bialowas told them to play every possession like it was a learning experience in the second half.
"I think that’s what’s unique about our team," Goncin said. "It doesn’t matter what the score is."
It’s a good thing. At one point, Canada trailed by 32. But in the fourth quarter, Goncin made it rain threes. He drained four in the space of a couple minutes.
"They put their bench in, so that helped," Goncin said, grinning, his dirty-blonde hair a little wet with sweat. He won’t lie: Draining those threes, even if it wasn’t a close one, felt pretty good in front of this crowd.
"It feels awesome. Everyone’s cheerin’ here, even though we’re down 30 points. It’s nice to at least finish the game on a good note," he said. Goncin has never played in front of a crowd like this. "Probably never again," he said. "I don’t know when the next Canadian soil thing will be."
In a couple weeks’ time, Canada’s men and women, who won silver here a day earlier, will centralize in Toronto and prepare for the Paralympics in Rio next summer. It’ll be Goncin’s first Paralympics, and he’s pumped. "Back to the grind," he said.
Then, Goncin took off to get his podium jacket on and get ready to receive his silver medal. A bunch of young Canadian kids yelled his name from the stands. Goncin smiled and waved. "Thank you guys for watching!" he said.