BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada opened the men’s basketball tournament with a win Thursday at the World University Games while both the men’s and women’s soccer squads also posted victories.
Canada defeated Italy 89-80 to open Pool C play in men’s basketball.
“First of all, it was a win, so that’s something positive we can take from tonight,” said Canadian head coach Chris O’Rourke from the University of Guelph. “But we were up-and-down in that game.
“I thought we did a really good job of controlling at times and got up by double digits, but unfortunately in those last five minutes we relaxed a little bit and turnovers in the end allowed them to hang around.”
Canada led by as many as 16 points in the game but that advantage was never safe as defensive lapses and turnovers let Italy come back.
Jacob Doerksen of Trinity Western University led the Canadian attack with 21 points and seven rebounds on 64-per-cent shooting from the field.
“Sometimes, we would rebound, sometimes we would take care of the ball, but other times we wouldn’t and for us to be successful we need to take care of the ball and let other teams make mistakes,” said Doerksen, a native of Abbotsford, B.C.
Giancarlo Ferrero led the Italians with 26 points.
The Canadian women, meanwhile, were eliminated from medal contention after a 90-78 loss to Japan dropped their record to 0-2.
In men’s soccer, Canada edged Morroco 1-0 to improve to 1-1 in pool play. The team opened the tournament with a loss to the Czechs.
“This was a huge win, and a great response from the guys,” said head coach Mike Mosher, head coach with the UBC Thunderbirds. “We felt we were quite unlucky against the Czechs and that the score did not indicate our level of play.”
Daniel Revivo scored for Canada.
“That’s actually a play we’ve been working on for a few weeks,” said Revivo.
On the women’s side, Canada beat China 2-1 to improve its record to 1-1.
Edmonton’s Veronique Mayer and Nikki Wright of Surrey, B.C., scored for the Canadians.
“It was a nice play for sure, but what got us the win today was the amazing work by all the girls,” said Wright. “As soon as one of us was in trouble, there was always a girl ready to step in and help.”
In other results:
-Canada beat Britain 25-19, 25-14, 25-15 in men’s volleyball pool play while the Canadian women lost 25-15, 25-18, 25-14 to China.
-Canada was hammered 20-0 by Australia in men’s water polo.
