After a 5.30am start we farewelled Boston and departed for Washington DC. Within minutes of our arrival at Ronald Reagan Airport we were taking snapshots outside The White House.
A quick stop for lunch then we arrived at The Bullis School ( http://www.bullis.org/ )for our seventh game on tour. Nestled in the beautiful and exclusive Maryland countryside, once we arrived at the school it took at least 15 minutes for our bus to actually find the Basketball stadium, so vast were the grounds.
The Freshman team found it hard to get into the game early but managed to claw back the deficit to eight points late in the game. Conor Karagiannis showed good court vision with some excellent passes that led to assists. Jake Gebron ran the floor hard and scored good points in transition. Max Peters commented - "We started slowly and didn't do the bread-and-butter Basketball very well. Our defensive effort was better this game but we still need to be more attentive to the offensive plays." The half scores were: 17-26, 34-43.
The Junior Varsity team started well with Lucas Catts scoring the first two points of the game. The boys kept the game alive in the first half by consistently hitting their shots. The second half was sound, and Jean-Paul El Tom was very good with his defence, but unfortunately our buckets didn't drop and Bullis ran away with the game. Joel Di Chiara commented - "It was a very physical game. We kept up with them in the first quarter but we let the game get away from us. Our defence and talk did lift in the third quarter, our effort was always there, and we are improving." The quarter scores were: 11-21, 22-38, 27-53, 38-69.
Our Varsity team came out in the opening minutes and really dominated Bullis - the first time they had done this all tour. We were up 16-5 at the end of the first quarter, however we allowed Bullis to find their rhythm in the second period and the momentum shifted. Liam Thomas played the game of the tour. He was a one man wrecking crew. After the game the Bullis coaches had nothing but praise for Liam, as did a College scout from Virginia who was in the stands. James Begley also continues to improve with each game as he gains more and more confidence. Dane Ristovski commented - "We had the strongest start we've had on tour, however in the second quarter we gave up too many turnovers which allowed Bullis to build their confidence and get back into the game. We came back fighting in the second half with good ball movement but we just couldn't match their range of shooting. Bullis were well drilled, quick and incredible shooters. Our effort was there throughout the game but we need to play smarter with better decision making against teams that apply this degree of pressure defence. The period scores were: 16-5, 18-27, 22-44, 34-70.
You can find a full set of today’s photos and videos at the following link:
