Rollers Looking Sharp As Big Tests Loom

Australia’s Rollers men’s wheelchair basketball team has continued its build-up towards the business end of its Group B clashes at the Tokyo Paralympics, steamrolling Algeria 83-37 at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza on Friday morning.

The Rollers face Germany, defending Paralympic champions the US and reigning World Champions Great Britain over the next three days.

They will enter those challenges with confidence after accounting for Algeria on the back of 16 points from Bill Latham, 13 from Michael Auprince and 11 each from Brett Stibners and Tom O’Neill-Thorne, who shot five from five from the field.

The Rollers led 42-17 at half time and maintained their dominance throughout the second half to ensure a big win.

“It’s another good win. Usually we start pretty slow at these tournaments and have to pick up our groove. But all 12 of us are playing really well, shooting the ball well, moving well,” O’Neill-Thorne said.

“Sometimes we get a little patchy with our energy levels and we need to sharpen up that and have a steady flow. But apart from that, this is the best we’ve looked in a long time.

“Everyone’s looking sharp, there’s really no weak links in our team anymore. We’re feeling really confident and really good and we’ll see how we go tomorrow.”

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The Rollers had a big win over Iran in their first game of the tournament. Germany will pose a genuine challenge after they lost only narrowly to the US.

“They’re going to be ready for us and we’ve got to make sure we’re in tip-top shape,” O’Neill-Thorne said.

“It’s been really good to be able to find our balance, find our rhythm now coming into tomorrow afternoon.”

By: David Sygall, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 27 August 2021
Image: Basketball Australia