An early start for the lads proved to be a big ask considering the competition that they were facing this morning in Boston University. Today's game saw the lads facing one of the top 5 club teams in the country for their age group, the Boston Amateur Basketball Club. After being warned of this earlier in the trip by Coach Cardarelli it only really dawned on the guys what this actually meant when they saw a 6'10" player warming up with jump shots around the three point line followed by all the opposing team getting brand new matching pairs for Nike basketball boots before the game.
Realistically the Irish team seemed a little shell shocked in the opening minutes despite some really intense play from Meath local Davy O'Leary early on. This was unfortunately countered on the other end by some very athletic play by the BABC team in the form of three consecutive dunks by the 6'10" Nerlens Noel. This was also supported by the strong inside play of Eji Gjikondi who had 11 points in the first half.
It was a tough morning for the Irish players who struggling to find their rhythm given the large squad number of players for today's game and the short rotation that this resulted in. One of the strong points of the team since they came to the states was their outside shooting which seemed to have deserted them for this game. To their credit the lads did a great job of keeping the ball off the floor in transition but the BABC half court defense proved to be deceptively long making it extremely difficult for the Irish players to get into any sort of half court offence. While the final score line was 88-39, eleven of the Irish players managed to get on the score sheet. Leading scorers for BABC: Jaylen Brantley 26 points (8 three pointers), Eji Gjikondi 11 points, Nerlens Noel 10 points (4 dunks). Irish Scorer: Garrett Galvin 7 points, Davy O'Leary 6 points, Ben Horner 5 points, Barry Denieffe 4 points, Adam McDonald 4 points, Neil Lynch 3 points, Luke O'Mahony 3 points, Stephen James 2 points, Colm O'Hagan 2 points, Brendan Kiely 2 points, Adrian 1 point.
After this the team were brought to the Blarney Stone for a nice lunch and then on to the beach for some fresh air. They had the rest of the evening off despite a slight delay in the return journey.
Following a hectic day Coach O'Sullivan had this to say "Realistically this is the reason that the lads came on this trip, to face opposition that they would never get an opportunity to play against in Ireland and to get the chance to improve their skills. Today's game was being watched by some really top coaches from a lot of Division 1 colleges and some Boston Celtics representatives. It was a credit to the players that some of these coaches approached me and complimented the lads on their ability to play as a team and break the press that they were up against."
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