Paralympic Games: LI's Steve Serio helps U.S. win wheelchair basketball gold medal

Steve Serio, who grew up in Westbury and graduated from Carle Place High School, had 24 points as Team USA won the Paralympics wheelchair basketball gold medal with a 73-69 victory over Great Britain in Paris on Saturday.

It was the third consecutive Paralympics gold Serio has earned, to go along with the medals at the 2016 Games in Rio and the 2020 Games in Tokyo (played in 2021).

Serio also contributed 10 rebounds. Jake Williams led the scored for Team USA with 26 points and Trevon Jenifer had 14.

That made it three-for-three in gold medals for the U.S. in Games basketball after the men and women won thrilling finals against France at the Olympics last month, also at Bercy Arena.

Fans at Bercy are used to hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and they will listen to it again if the women’s team wins its final against the Netherlands on Sunday.

Earlier, Germany’s men won the bronze-medal match against Canada 75-62.

Swimmer Anastasia Pagonis of Nassau County clocked 1 minute, 9.31 seconds to finish seventh in the S11 100-meter freestyle final. She finished second in her qualifying heat with a time of 1:08.13, good for second place in her heat.

Daria Lukianenko of the Neutral Paralympic Athletes team won the event in world record time of 1:04.88.