Another Win!!!!!!

Tonight we had our first game in a couple weeks against Itzahoe and it felt good to get back out on the court against someone besides ourselves. The first time we played Itzahoe we lost by 6 at their place, but we were missing 4starters with injury and I had to carry the load. This game however we had those 4 starters back plus 3 new additional players, Rober Dill (6'9 center), Nico Adamcyck (former 20U German national player) and Kevin Reed (new american guy). Itzahoe has the leagues leading scorer Kejuan Johnson, who averages close to 30ppg. He had 47 on us the first game, but this game we held him to 33points....haha...held him....haha.

Today we came out with a lot of intensity and energy on both ends of the floor. We jumped out to a 30-15 lead at the end of the 1st quarter and we pushed the lead to 20points by halftime 58-38. The second half we again controlled the tempo and flow of the game on both ends of the floor and half way through the 3quarter we had pushed the lead to 23points, 71-48. However, Itzahoe would not go down without a fight and they chipped away at our lead by the beginning of the 4 quarter we were only up 11 points.

We got our "marbles" (as coach Hansi says) together and closed Itzahoe out, winning 95-78. I played pretty good, I didn't have a breakout scoring night but with all these new players I don't have to score as much anymore and I can play my natural position of point guard. I controlled the tempo of the game offensively and defensively, which I am pretty happy about. I wish coach Hansi would let me loose a little more but i'm cool with it because we're winning.

I finished the game with 10pts, 6ast, 3stls, 3rbs, 4-4 FT and only 2TO in 22min of play. We were very balance with our scoring and with the number of minutes played by the team (minutes leader was Kevin with 27). Nico lead us with 15pts, followed by Julian Schmidt's 13, Kevin's 12, Max's 12 and Jan Both (6'10) finished with 10pts and 5rbs.

I am very please with the way our team is playing as a "team" and being very unselfish. We all have a goal of finishing out the season on a high note and not at the bottom of the league. We have won 3 out of our last 4 and we plan on continuing that for the rest of the season.

The pictures were taking by Photographer Jens Scholz and I would like to thank him for taking alot of me so I can post them to my blog for everyone to see. Thanks Jens (Danke).

Spanish Dinner

Last night the family of one of the kids I coach from my 14u team invited me over for a authentic spanish dinner. The family is originally from Spain but they have lived here in Gottingen, Germany for 8yrs. I was very excited to eat something other than sandwhiches, yogurt, and soup.

The dinner consited of many different types of meats; pork, 2 different spanish sausages, beef, and chicken that were sliced very thin to be placed on home fresh baked bread. Along with the meat they served an egg/potato/onion/zucchini omelette that was very good. The side dishes consisted of choices of shrimp, a fried meatball thing (picture tatortots but with meat) and fried whole little baby fishes (deboned and deheaded of course). For dessert, their daughter made a vanilla cream with real sugar melted on top(the sugar turned into caramel), which was very good as well. It reminded me of vanilla pudding.

The meal was AWESOME and I was able to practice my Spanish and German with them which was awesome too. I was so stuffed after the meal I thought I was going to throw up I ate so much, but it was good cause I needed a good "home cooked" meal. The family gave me a tour of their house, which had amazing architechture from their two winding staircases to the spanish art they had on the walls. After the meal the dad educated me on Spanish history and geography. I ask a LOT of questions about their culture and country because it was very interesting to me. The showed me a short video of the "running with the bulls" and how it came about to be as popular as it is.

After all that was done we finished up with a couple German card games that reminded me of "uno" but with a little twist to it. It was fun and I would have started winning because I was getting the hang of it after the first couple games.

I really enjoyed myself and was please to be able to go over there for a meal. I would like to thank the Medina Family for their hospitality and generosity. Danke Schon=German Thank You
Gracias=Spanish Thank You

Another Win!!!!!

Yesterday we won our third game of the season against Wolfenbuttel, a team who beat us the first time by 18pts. We played great the whole game until the end of the third quarter. However, being down 18pts in the fourth quarter we battled back to win by 1pt in regulation.

I didn't play much, but I played good when I was out there. I finished the game with 7pts 3Rbs 3ast 1st and 2TO in 19minutes of play. Nico led us with 21pts. Our 6'9 center Robert scored 15pts and had 9rbs and our new American, Kevin, had 13pts. The game was a total team effort and I'm glad we could put our ego's aside and come together to get the victory.

After battling back from 18pts we were down three points with 1minute left. Kevin drew up a play in a time out and we excecuted it perfectly and Nico hit a 3 to tie the game with about 40 seconds left. Wolfebuttel came down and missed their shot we rebounded it and Enoch, our 7ft center, was fould with 3seconds left. He hit 1-2 FT's to put us up by 1pts. Their last desperation shot didnt go and we won. However, there American, Chris Rodger, scored a game high 40pts.

We have a couple weeks off before our next game and I'm hoping we can win 3out of the last 5 games to get us out of last place.

My 16U team has won their last 3 games and we are going into the playoffs on a nice little hot streak. I hope they can ride this momentum all the way through the playoffs.

Thanks for following and please continue to keep me in your prayers.

Tough Loss

This weekend we played a team from Berlin, Hermsdorf, at home. The first time we played Hermsdorf we lost 63-64 at the buzzer, in a game in which I didn't play very well. This game I wanted to redeem myself and help us get a win. We signed another American player this week, Kevin Reed, who played in Belgium the last couple years. He's a shooting guard who can really rebound for his size at 6'2.

We started the game on a 15-1 run and finishing the first quarter leading 20-4. We controlled the whole first quarter with our fast paced offense and our extremely high energy defense. However, when we get leads in games we tend to get comfortable and we lose our intensity at both ends of the floor. the second quarter Hermsdorf made a little run to cut the lead to 8pts, 22-30 at halftime.

The third quarter we held on to the lead but Hermsdorf was closing the gap with a high energy press and very hot shooting. We on the other hand played with very low energy and very poor shooting. Hermsdorf cut our lead to 7 at the end of the third quarter, 41-48. Our coach wasn't pleased with our play and tried to get us motivated to close out the game and get a win.

The fourth quarter went the same way as the third quarter did, with us shooting very poorly and Hermsdorf starting continuing to shoot very well. Hermsdorf tied the game at 62-62 with 1min left in the fourth quarter. We came down and missed our shot Hermsdorf rebounded the ball and converted their shot taking the lead 64-62 with 47seconds left. We came down and I was fouled with 20 seconds left giving me two Free Throws to tie the game. I made the first free throw and "some how" missed the second. However, we got the offensive rebound with 20 seconds left and had three opportunities to win the game but we missed all three shots. I missed a runner in the lane. Max missed a reverse layup and Kevin missed a three pointer at the buzzer.

I felt really bad after the game for missing my FT to tie the game. I finished the game with 10points 2ast 2stl and 2TO while shooting 4-10 from the field and 5-7 from the line. Niko lead us with 16pts and Enoch, our 7ft center had 14pts and 8rbs. The new American Kevin was 0-9 from the field and finished with 2pts from free throws. I believe he was just nervous/anxious and needs to get used to our team and our style of play.

We play next Saturday in Wolfenbuttle, a team we HAVE to beat in order to get out of last place. We need to win at least 4 of our last 6 games.