Courtesy Photo | Red Team veteran Army Sgt. Alexander Shaw of Clarksville, Tenn., looks for a way past...... read more read more
Subscribe
By Craig Coleman
Northern Regional Medical Command
EL PASO, Texas – Veteran Army Sgt. Alexander Shaw, of Clarksville, Tennessee, led his Red Team to victory in the gold medal game in the Army Warrior Games Trials March 31.
Shaw scored 13 points as the Red Team topped Yellow 31-22 in the come from behind victory.
Approximately 80 wounded, ill, and injured Soldiers and veterans are here to train and compete in a series of athletic events including archery, cycling, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, track and field, and wheelchair basketball. Army Trials, conducted by the Warrior Transition Command and hosted by Fort Bliss, Texas, is scheduled March 29 - April 2. Army Trials helps determine who will get a spot on the Department of Defense Warrior Games 2015 Army Team in June at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
The wheelchair basketball gold game started as a stalemate, with both team defenses swarming. Player after player was impeded by high-speed blocks, with wheelchairs crashing and the occasional topple to the floor. It took nearly seven minutes for Army Spc. Joseph Coe, Warrior Transition Unit, Europe to break the deadlock and give Yellow the lead they held through the rest of the first half. Yellow took a 16-10 lead into the break, paced by Sgt. Nicolas Titman’s (Fort Carson, Colorado Warrior Transition Unit) 6 first-half points.
But this was truly a tale of two halves.
After the break, something changed for Red. Shaw, an Army Warrior Games stalwart, took control, weaving his way past opponents and driving Yellow defenders into well-placed picks by his teammates, to post up against the reaching arms and thread passes toward teammate breaking toward the basket.
According to Billy Demby, Red Team wheelchair basketball coach, his team had stopped using the system that took them to the finals.
“When you’re on offense and they’re in a man-to-man [defense], the best thing to do is spread the court and start picking people off,” Denby said. “Then you can start cutting to the basket. We stopped doing that.”
But in the second half, Red reverted to their usual spread offense and started using their secret weapon, Spc. Terry Cartwright, National Capital Region Warrior Transition Brigade.
“He [Cartwright] knew he was the fastest guy on the court," Denby said. “He knows he’s supposed to break away."
The Safford, Arizona, native repeatedly raced down court, leaving his defender in his tracks. Cartwright finished with 8 points.
But it was Shaw who took over the game when it seemed Yellow would run away with the victory.
“Shaw is my key man,” Denby said. “He takes charge on the floor when they’re not doing well.”
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2015 17:30 |
| Story ID: | 159018 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TX, US |
| Hometown: | SAFFORD, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 116 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tactical precision rules Army Trials wheelchair basketball finals, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT