(Vaughan, ON) The Vaughan City Lashers wheelchair basketball team hosted its first tournament of the season today at the Vellore Village Community Center in Woodbridge, Ontario.

The event featured three teams – the Kitchener Twin City Spinners, Burlington Vipers, and the host Vaughan City Lashers – from the Great Lakes Conference of the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball League (CWBL).

In the first game, Kitchener’s balanced attack was too much for the Lashers despite 32 combined points from Jerry Tonello and Chantal Benoit. Tyler Miller, Gold Medalist from London 2012, led Kitchener with 17 while Ibbotson, Russell, and Bentley chipped in 29 points to upset the hosts in the low scoring affair 48-40.

In game two, Kitchener substituted freely and rolled over the undermanned Burlington Vipers 51-23. Two top players for the Vipers were not suited and the team struggled to contain the stronger and faster Twin City Spinners.

The final game of the day was more of the same for the Vipers with the Lashers playing for experience and coming away with a 50-19 victory. Brandon Wagner, also a national team player for Canada and gold medalist at London 2012, worked tirelessly to keep his squad in it with 10 points. But, the Lashers had everyone on the score sheet and got a 14 point performance out of Jeff Adams and 12 points from Higor Da Silva to run away with the game.

The Lashers are in action again next weekend in Kitchener at the beautiful Rim Park for a rematch with Kitchener and they will also face London for the first time this year.