Dominican D1 Update 2
The first game of the trip perhaps is the toughest game as it provides the toughest competition of the trip. The team boasts three NBA players in Larry Turner (LA Lakers), Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks) and Fransico Garcia (Sacromento Kings). Given that the team had had limited practice time and no game experience together, there in-experience showed in the opening quarter of the game, playing against a team that was much more experienced and unified. As the team shot a mere 22% from the field while the National team shot 47% from the field, the team found itself down early and was never able to overcome the deficit losing 77-49. Leading scorer was Rayvern Johnson with 17. Marcas Allen finished the game with 6 points and 8 rebounds. The one shining moment of the game occurred in the 3rd quarter when Jerai Grant had a thunderous dunk that brought the crowd of 5000 Dominican’s to thier feet.
The game received a tremendous amount of exposure as it was broadcast nationally on television, on the highlight shows that evening and in the newspapers as well.
Day 3 began with a trip to Jumbo’s Superstore to stock up on food and supplies to deliver to a small villiage outside the city of San Pedro. As the bus rolled down the dirt roads, kids began to run along side and were eager to meet the players.
The players were given a tour of the village hand in hand with children of the village. Though none of the guys speak spanish causing a language barrier, many words were spoken through laughter and hand signs. Each family received a bag of food that will feed the family for at least a week. This gave our guys a good appreciation for the amount of food that they consume daily!!
In the afternoon we got back to basketball playing our second game in the capital city, San Domingo. Tonight’s outcome was far better than last nights, with a two point victroy 67-65. The team was lead by Demontz Stitta with 17 points, Lucas Hargrove and Rayvern Johnson each had double figuers in scoring with 16 and 13 points respectively. Perhaps the key to victory though was the rebounding of AJ Jackson (10) and Elgin Bialey (8). Both players played strong and physical in the paint. Josh Slater (6) and Will Poule (8) both contributed in the scoring column including two key three pointers.
Tomorrow night’s contest will be again against the Domican National “B” Team. The team is looking forward to having a rematch of sorts, though there are different players on this team than they faced during Friday’s game.
