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Championship Stage Set for Adult Divisions, While Junior Division Opening Rounds Offer Few Surprises

By Pasha Zolfaghari, 04/13/18, 9:45PM CDT

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In an exciting Friday for the 2018 National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament presented by ABC Medical, the championship stage has been set for all three Adult Division tournaments. While the Junior Division tournaments had some thrilling games, only the NIT Championship tournament had a team ranked outside the top four make it to the final four.

The day also saw a thrilling Per4Max Shootout, which was won by a female player for the first time, Josie DeHart of the Denver Jr. Rolling Nuggets. 

In the first semi-final game for the Adult Division I tournament, the New York Rollin’ Knicks beat the MedStar NRH Punishers, 66-42 to solidify their spot in Saturday’s championship game. To end the night, the Dallas Wheelchair Mavericks beat the Sacramento Rollin’ Kings, 85-52 and will give the fans a rematch of last year’s championship game. In the 2017 DI championships, the Mavericks beat the Knicks in double-overtime, 83-78. The DI championship game is set for Saturday, April 14 at 4:00 p.m.

The Adult Division II championships will tip off on Saturday, April 14 at 2:00 p.m. and feature the one seed NMCSD Wolfpack and the 14 seed Toronto Rollin’ Raptors. The Raptors have been the underdog in every game they have played so far and will be the underdog again in the championships.

The Adult Division III championships will be the last of the championship games on Saturday and take place at 6:00 p.m. on Court 3. The five seed Harrisonburg Cardinals defeated the one seed Connecticut Spokebenders in the semi-finals to secure their spot in the championships. They will face the three seed RHI pacers in the championships, which should be an intense matchup between the two teams.

In the Junior Division pool, the top four seeds made it to the semi finals in both the Junior Varsity and Junior Prep tournaments. In the Junior Varsity pool, the final four consists of the one seed TIRR Hermann Memorial Hotwheels of Houston, Texas; two seed BlazeSports Jr. Hawks of Norcross, Georgia; three seed RHI Racers of Indianapolis, Indiana and four seed WASA Jr. Bucks of Brookfield, Wisconsin. The Junior Varsity semi-finals are set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 14.

The Junior Prep final four will feature the one seed Minnesota Rolling Rowdies of Minneapolis, Minnesota; two seed LWSRA Hawks of New Lenox, Illinois; three seed Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets – Purple of Matthews, North Carolina and four seed Lakeshore Sharksm of Birmingham, Alabama. The Rowdies play the Sharks at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 14 and the Hornets tip off against the Hawks at the same time.

The final four for the NIT Championship pool consists of the 17 seed Mary Free Bed Pacers of Grand Rapids, Michigan; 18 seed Mad City Badgers of Madison, Wisconsin; 20 seed Synergy Bulls of Carol Stream, Illinois and 22 seed Motor City Wheelz of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Motor City Wheelz are the only semi-final Junior Division team to pull off the upset after they defeated the 19 seed Denver Jr. Rollin’ Nuggets, 47-42. The semi-final games for the NIT tournament are set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 14.