McDaniel inspires US to wheelchair basketball gold
By Rory Carson and Kris Bramwell
Anthony McDaniel produced a dazzling performance as the hosts claimed the wheelchair basketball gold with victory over the UK.
In a repeat of the 2014 final, USA got revenge over the UK with a 48-16 win inside a packed HP Field House.
The victory took USA's gold medal tally to 51 and confirmed their dominance in the team sport events as they added to their sitting volleyball and wheelchair rugby titles.
The UK who had comfortably beaten Denmark 29-10 in the semi-final were outclassed.
USA were 4-0 up inside two minutes before UK captain Simon Gibbs levelled the match in what began as a fast paced opening.
The US found Gibbs difficult to handle in what was an end-to-end open opening two minutes. the turning point came when 26-year-old Lee Matthews found himself in the US danger zone with plenty of space and time to shoot for the basket but missed. In response, USA broke away quickly and Juan Soto made Matthews pay.
America then proceeded to race into a 16-point lead at half-time.
The second half began as the first ended with the hosts on top, Soto added to his tally and McDaniel's the fastest man on the court, nipped in with a number of timely interceptions which ended up through the hoop.
Reigning champions UK did have their moments, and when given the opportunity Simon Gibbs was clinical. However they were few and far between as McDaniel, ably supported by Jose Salazar nullified the threat of the UK captain in front of the watching Prince Harry.
Buoyed on by a crowd that were rocking the HP Field House, the US led by McDaniel repeatedly broke quickly and their fast paced scoring helped seal an emphatic win.
After the match Gibbs said: “They had two guys on me at all times and they hit me hard. We might not have got the result that we wanted but we are here and we all achieved something great.”
McDaniel, who left the court to a standing ovation dedicated the result to the fans saying: "We wanted to do this for everybody else.”
