Hello Basketball World,
I want to start by thanking my other 6 committed teammates which always come to practice and win or lose leave it on the court, Kyle Menard, Keion Osbourne, Robert Zeller, Jordan Gil, Derrick Wilson and John Dargan. Also, our coaches Ozzie and Barry.
My week began with arriving home last week Sunday from Pitt, then packing and leaving at 3:30am to my 8th grade school trip to DC. I then got back home Friday at 4:30pm to pack again, having a quick shoot around since I was not in the gym all week, and then leaving to RI. So I have done a lot of traveling over the past two weeks and it’s good to be home. We got up there about 11pm and had to go bed because we had to wake up at 7am for an 8am game, which as a team we hate, but all 7 of us with the help of Tommy Rivera went out and played. We played against Connecticut Basketball Club. I started out with a quick 3 and a lay- up, on my way to 16pts. As the game went on they started to open up a lead against us, but we kept coming back and were always rights there. We pulled within one with seconds left. Tommy drove to the basket and missed a lay up to put us up one, we then go the ball back and Keion missed the front end of a 1 and 1 to ice the game. We fouled them and after the second free throw missed we didn’t box out underneath. After the game coach Ozzie told us how we missed three chances to steal that game because we didn’t play to our full potential and we could pull it out.
Our second game was a must win situation against NE Strom. As a team we responded to our coaches challenge, our Coach Ozzie had to coach the 17u team so our assist Coach Barry and Coach Hodge who coaches the 16s coached us.1st half it was up and down but we found our game, my team mates made it easy to play well in that game I had 15pts in the 1st half and 16pts in the 2nd. In all, I had 7 (3's) and a couple of trips to the cup, finishing with 31pts. Next game with played Mass Rivals and again all 7 of us took care of that team I had a headache for that one but did my best to play threw it with about 12pts and little things to help us get the win like rebound, play D. We ended up winning big and mercy ruling them. The mercy rule was a lead by more than 30 points with under 5 mins to play.
Sunday was my birthday. I woke up tired and drained and not in a good mood, I guess the 2 weeks straight of being on the road caught up to me. We played RI Breakers in the semi final game. As a team we did not come to play, nor did we play like we wanted it. This week just as last week, we were one game away from playing in the championship. I think had we had a full team, we would have won. As our coach said, you play with what cards you have, so again I thank my team mates that came and battled, we win together, we lose together. Also to the parents that make the sacrifices to bring their kids up there, spend the money on hotels, gas, toll, and food and give up their time to support us! Thank you! Next week, we’re at Rumble in the Bronx.
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” Dr. Seuss…Young One Out
