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Wollongong's Luke Pople has led Australia to the first ever Commonwealth Games 3x3 gold medal.


Australia defeated Canada 11-9 in the Gold Medal game on Wednesday morning (Australian time) with captain Pople scoring 6 points on 5/9 shooting.

 

"It was the longest 10 minutes of my life! Once we started hitting our picks and using the space, it just flowed," said Pople after the match.

 Luke Game 1


Both teams started nervously but eventually Australia found their groove, a long range shot from Lachie Dalton giving Australia an 8-5 lead with four minutes to play.

 

But Canada weren’t done yet, scoring the next three baskets to level the scores at 8 all with 2:03 remaining. 

 

Back to back baskets by Pople gave Australia some breathing room at 10-8 with 1:34 to go. Canada’s Colin Higgins tried to level up with a 2 point shot but missed before teammate Robert Hedges drew his side within 1 with 70 seconds remaining.

 

That was as close as the Canadians would come, each side trading misses before Australia’s semi final hero Lachie Dalton fed Pople for a one point shot to give Australia an 11-9 advantage. 

 

Australia defeated Canada in the pool games 13-11 but had to quickly come down from their semi final overtime thriller against England which saw Dalton deliver a clutch basket from deep right at the death, a shot seen around the world.

Luke Team Celebration

 

"The shot was wild. Will go down in history."

 

"We knew we had the offence to beat anyone here, we had to work hard on defence to get it done so that was our focus."

 

The men’s wheelchair team was the only basketball side to win gold for Australia with the women’s wheelchair team also playing Canada in their gold medal game with Canada too good on the day winning 14-5 giving Hannah Dodd a silver medal.

 

Australia’s men’s 3x3 able bod team finished with silver in an overtime battle against England that went the host nation’s way 17-16 while the women’s able bod team won bronze over New Zealand 15-13.

 

The Commonwealth Games has been a first for basketball with the wheelchair and able bodied (or running game) played alongside one another for the first time.

 Hannah Game 1a


For silver medalist and Roller Hawk, Hannah Dodd, it’s been an experience like no other. 

 

“It’s been phenomenal. It’s been great to play alongside our able bodied counterparts. To have their support and genuine interest in our sport has been amazing,” said Dodd.

 

“The team has been great. It's a very different format and we get to be a lot more independent and it’s been a lot of fun.”