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2019 Toyota USA Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Showdown in Texas pits U.S. against Spain and Japan

By Bryan Marseille, 06/06/19, 9:45AM CDT

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COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - The 2019 Toyota USA Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Showdown will feature the Toyota Team USA Men’s Senior National Team playing six domestic exhibition games against Spain and Japan. The featured games, free and open to the public, will take place on Saturday, June 22 at Prosper High School in Prosper, Texas (a north suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex). The following are details of the two featured games:

  • Team USA vs. Japan         10 a.m. CT
  • Spain vs. Team USA            1 p.m. CT

Tickets for the Toyota USA Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Showdown featured games are free. These featured games will include a Fan Fest area, an interactive game experience, Meet and Greet opportunity with athletes and much more fun!

Team USA’s first featured game of the 2019 Toyota USA Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Showdown is against Japan at 10 a.m. Central time, which finished 9th place at the 2018 IWBF World Championships. The U.S. has a perfect 9-0 record against Japan in IWBF and Paralympic competitions. A recent meeting of these two teams was the 2010 IWBF World Championships, where the U.S. won 89-46.

The U.S. will play their second featured game against European rival Spain at 1 p.m. Central time. This game is a rematch of the gold-medal game at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in which the Americans beat Spain 68-52.

The remainder of the games for the 2019 Toyota USA Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Showdown will be hosted on campus at University of Texas-Arlington. Please click here for a complete schedule of games for this event.

The 2019 Toyota USA Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Showdown will serve as a tune-up for Team USA for the 2019 ParaPan American Games scheduled from August 23 to September 1, 2019, in Lima, Peru. The 2019 ParaPan American Games are the qualifying event for Team USA for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Head Coach Ron Lykins will lead the team into action, assisted on the USA bench by Robb Taylor and Jon Sikora. Scott Meyer serves as the Team Leader, with Mary Vacala filling the athletic trainer position. Assisting Valaca at the trainer position is Jeremy Johnson.

The 12 members of the Toyota Team USA Men’s Senior National Team include Brian Bell, John Boie, Aaron Gouge, Trevon Jenifer, Matt Lesperance, Ryan Neiswender, Mike Paye, Jorge Sanchez, Steve Serio, Matt Scott, Josh Turek, and Jake Williams.

The NWBA invites you to attend this unique opportunity to watch some of the best players in our sport compete on U.S. soil and in a ‘showcased’ fashion courtesy of the support from Toyota. Please feel free to spread the word regarding the featured games using the flyer below as we hope to ‘pack the gym’ to cheer on Team USA.

Follow 2019 Toyota USA Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Showdown news on facebook.com/NWBA70, twitter.com/nwba, and instagram.com/nwba.

About the NWBA

Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the National Wheelchair Basketball Association is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men’s and women’s wheelchair basketball in the United States. The National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) is comprised of over 200 wheelchair basketball teams across twenty-two conferences. The NWBA was founded in 1948, and today consists of eight divisions including:  Division I, Division II, Division III, Women’s Division, Intercollegiate Men’s Division and Intercollegiate Women’s Division and Junior Division.

As the recognized governing body for basketball in the U.S. by the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), the NWBA is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA-sponsored international competitions, as well as for some national competitions, and for the development of youth basketball initiatives that address player development, coach education and safety.

For further information about the NWBA, go to the official website www.nwba.org