TORONTO – It’s been 21 years since Canada was represented at the Olympics for men’s basketball, and with this latest heartbreaker in the books, that drought will continue.
With a thrilling but ultimately ill-fated 103-101 loss to Czech Republic in overtime of Saturday’s semi-final, the Canadians were eliminated from their last-chance qualifying tournament, failing to punch their ticket to Tokyo in the process.
It was yet another painful setback for a program that has experienced so many of them over the past two decades, but in many ways, this one felt like a new low.
“Everybody’s disappointed,” point guard and team captain Cory Joseph said afterwards. “We had enough to make it, we just didn’t get the job done, again.”