By Ronald Wolf
U.S. Army Medical Command
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – The Team Army wheelchair basketball team closed out its first day at the 2015 Department of Defense Warrior Games by beating the team from the United Kingdom, 31-23. The competition at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, was held on June 20.
Team Army led most of the game, scoring the first three baskets and leading 11-7 in a low-scoring first half. Coaches Rod Williams and Lee Montgomery stressed the need for to the team to find the open shooter on the move. The strategy worked as the team was able to cash in on numerous fast break opportunities.
Leading scorers for the game were U.S. Army Veteran Staff Sgt. Alexander Shaw, Clarksville, Tennessee and Veteran Spc. Dustin Barr, Jamesville, North Carolina; each scored 10 points. Sgt. Nicholas Titman, Fort Carson, Colorado, chipped in seven.
Team Army finished the preliminary round with the fourth seed. They next play the team from the United Kingdom again on June 21 in an elimination game.
The DoD Warrior Games are an adaptive sports competition for wounded, ill and injured service members and Veterans. Approximately 250 athletes, representing teams from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Special Operations Command, and the British Armed Forces are competing in archery, cycling, track and field, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, and wheelchair basketball.