Anna Harrington / AAP News
The cult hero Lachlin Dalton has helped the Australian Men’s 3×3 Wheelchair Basketball Team to the gold medal.
Australia’s men’s 3×3 wheelchair basketball team of Lachlin Dalton, Luke Pople, Jake Kavanagh and Kurt Thomson claimed gold with a dramatic 11-9 victory over Canada.
Dalton was the key playmaker with four points, earning him the nickname ‘The King Slayer’ from the commentator, while Pople top-scored with six.
“It’s so surreal – we’re taking gold home,” Pople told reporters.
“The King Slayer? That sounds good to me.
“He’s been awesome all tournament. He’s the guy that gets the team up and about and he gets big shots.”
The game was on a knife’s edge until, with Australia leading 6-5, Dalt on turned up the heat, sinking a long-range effort to extend the lead to three.
Canada pulled off a dramatic comeback to level scores at 8-8 before Pople sank three consecutive bucket s to seal victory.
It wasn’t such a great night for Australia’s women’s wheelchair 3×3 team, who were well beaten 14-4 by Canada in their gold medal match.
“Silver feels pretty good but I think gold would have felt a lot better,” Australia’s Amber Merritt said.
Earlier, the women’s 3×3 basketball team claimed bronze with Marina Whittle scoring nine points in a 15-13 win over New Zealand.
Australia’s men’s 3×3 basketball team have suffered a devastating 17-16 overtime defeat to England to fall short of Commonwealth Games gold.
With Australia leading 16-15, Daniel Johnson missed a shot to seal the win before Birmingham local Myles Hesson drained a two-pointer to snatch victory.
The 3×3 basketball arena at Smithfield was like a cauldron thanks to a parochial local crowd.
Johnson scored seven points, Tom Wright had five and Jesse Wagstaff sank four while Greg Hire battled hard through a torn groin.
Scores were locked at 15-15 at fulltime after a dramatic, heated clash where both teams hit their six-foul penalty limit.
England snatched an early 3-1 advantage but Australia fought back with Wright sinking a big two-pointer to deliver a 4-3 lead.
They traded blows from there until at 11-11, with just under two minutes remaining, Johnson won two shots but missed both.
With 45 seconds left, England’s Jamell Anderson s lam-dunked to level the scores at 13-13.
Jaydon Henry-McCalla almost handed England a 15-14 victory with a two-pointer but Johnson levelled to send it to overtime, where the first team to score two points would prevail.
Wagstaff scored the first, then Johnson missed an attempted two-pointer before Hesson stuck a dagger into Australia’s heart.
