Led brilliantly by captain Brad Ness and veteran of five Paralympic campaigns, Troy Sachs, the Rollers were slightly down at halftime 32-28, but skipped away to a seven-point lead at the end of the third quarter (54-47) and were never headed. Sachs is the only survivor from the 1996 Atlanta Games where the Rollers had their first breakthrough beating Great Britain for gold the first basketball gold in Olympic or Paralympic competition.

Sachs top-scored then with 42 points and at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium he top-scored again with 19 and seven rebounds.

Justin Eveson, one of the silver medallists in Greece in 2004, was second highest with 17 while, another Athens campaigner, Shaun Norris, shot 16.

But for Dylan Alcott, at his first Games, the smile and Australian flag around his neck said it all.

''To be 17 years-old and a Paralympic gold medallist it doesn't get any better than this,'' he said.

''We knew we'd been playing well all week but I think we were at the very top of our game tonight.''

After the hooter sounded, the tears flowed, the yells of joy echoed around the stadium, the hugs started and Waltzing Matilda began playing over the loud speakers.

Ness then gathered his players in a circle to give one final captain's address.

''He told us there had been many fine sporting teams from Australia over the years but now the Rollers would be remembered as one of those,'' Alcott said.

The win gave Australia a medal in both wheelchair basketball tournaments with the Gliders taking bronze over Japan a night earlier.

In the wheelchair rugby final Australia's Steelers put up a tough fight against world No1 USA but came away with a silver medal.

The Australians matched it point-for-point for most of the physical encounter, but the USA eventually broke away to an unbeatable 53 to 44 lead in the final quarter.

Turnovers were frequent as both sides applied huge pressure in front of the deafening crowd at the University of Science and Technology Beijing gymnasium.

NSW teenager Ryley Batt was a whizz kid for Australia, accelerating past opponents to earn 23 points to huge roars from the crowd.

''[It was] a great game for the US, they are tough competitors and hopefully we can get them back next time,'' Batt, 19, said.

''I'm not disappointed in myself, I'm more disappointed for the players who might retire after this. I wanted to get them a gold.''