Bucknell University Athletics
Postcards from Europe 2014: Day 3 in Antwerp
5/23/2014 6:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
ANTWERP, Belgium – The Bison men's basketball team will sleep much better tonight after bouncing back from last night's loss with a solid 79-73 victory over the Antwerp Giants of the Belgian second division. Chris Hass poured in 30 points, and Bucknell used a late 10-0 run to break open a one-point game to cap off another exciting day in northern Belgium.
The entire Bucknell traveling party arrived in Antwerp around 2 p.m. and spent a few hours taking a guided tour of the city, followed by some free time for dinner and shopping. Just after 5 p.m. the team headed back to the bus to make what we thought was a short ride to the outskirts of the city where the basketball venue is located.
Unfortunately our outstanding bus driver Jos was foiled by a road closure about a kilometer from the arena, which forced him to double back through some very narrow streets. Eventually the roads became so tight that he was unable to make a right turn onto a one-way street. The gym was located only about 500 yards away, so everyone piled off the bus, grabbed their bags and walked through a quiet neighborhood to the Sporthal Roosendael.
The best way to describe the Giants' home court would be “cozy.” There was bleacher seating along one side only for about 200 spectators, but the gym did have a bar with Stella Artois on tap!
Despite the later-than-expected arrival, the Bison had quite a bit more bounce in their legs than they did in last night's eight-point loss to the Ghent Hawks. Bucknell fell behind 8-0 last night and never led in the game, but tonight it was the Bison jumping out to an 8-0 lead. Antwerp would rally to go up 17-13, but Joshea Singleton hit a 3-pointer just before the first-quarter buzzer sounded, and then Bucknell opened up the second period with another 8-0 surge to take the lead for good.
The Bison led 41-36 at the half and 53-49 after three quarters. The young Giants team crept within 64-63 with about five minutes left in the game, but Bucknell took over down the stretch. Strong drives to the basket by Hass, John Azzinaro and Ryan Frazier led to either layups or free throws, and Azzinaro hit a big 3-pointer in a 10-0 Bison run. Antwerp hit a couple of late threes to hang around, but Hass, Azzinaro and Dom Hoffman knocked down free throws to put the game away.
Hass has been outstanding so far. He scored 23 points at Ghent followed by 30 tonight on 8-for-15 shooting from the floor (3-for-6 from the arc) and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. After a 9-for-23 performance from the foul line last night, the Bison were much improved tonight at 22-for-28.
Azzinaro backed up Hass' 30-point effort with 11 points, along with three assists and two steals. Cameron Ayers scored 10 points, including back-to-back treys in that key run early in the second quarter. Ayers started and played a few more minutes than last night, however when the game was on the line late in the fourth quarter, coach Dave Paulsen went exclusively with returning players.
Frazier went 4-for-5 from the field and tallied eight points and seven rebounds. Cory Starkey scored four points and collected a game-high 11 rebounds, giving him 21 boards in the two games in Europe so far. Hoffman added eight points and nine rebounds, and Ben Oberfeld started at center and grabbed seven boards despite foul trouble.
Bucknell finished with a 53-35 rebounding edge and shot 38.5 percent overall and 7-for-16 (.438) from 3-point distance. Antwerp shot 32.4 percent and was just 6-for-28 (.214) from the arc.
After the game, Bill Dearstyne '62 addressed the team. Not only was Mr. Dearstyne a Hall-of-Fame swimmer at Bucknell, but he has served on the Board of Trustees and has been one of Bison Athletics' most prominent alumni supporters through the years. Tonight he stressed to the players the importance of giving back.
“Your experience as a scholar-athlete will be invaluable to you after you graduate in four years,” he told them. “My hope is that you will all go on to be successful in your careers, and that you stay active as alumni to support the team and remember those that follow in your footsteps.”
Mr. Dearstyne will be headed back to his home in Austria after spending two full days with the team in Belgium, including today's trip to Antwerp. In contrast to the medieval towns of Ghent and Bruges that we toured earlier this week, Antwerp is a much larger, more industrial city that features one of the largest seaports in Europe.
Antwerp is not without its own historical significance, however. Yesterday we told you about how the silting of the Zwin watershed around the year 1500 abandoned Bruges from the North Sea and effectively choked off most of the trade into and out of that city. The beneficiary of that natural occurrence was Antwerp.
Antwerp is located along a wide stretch of the river Scheldt, a direct tributary to the North Sea. That makes for easy access for ships coming into Antwerp, and by the early 1500s the city had replaced Bruges as a major trade hub as well as one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Unfortunately that key seaport made Antwerp a target for attacks throughout its history, and for several centuries the city was completely fortified.
On our tour today we saw remnants of the original city walls, and one of the ancient citadels – Het Steen – still looms along the banks of the Scheldt. One of the most prolific invasions of Antwerp came during World War II. From 1940-44 the city was occupied by the Germans, but on Sept. 4, 1944 it was liberated by the British and allied forces. That resulted in heavy bombing from German V-1 and V-2 rockets. The port survived, but much of the city took on heavy damage. Antwerp has since been rebuilt with plenty of modern architecture juxtaposed against the surviving ancient landmarks, and today the city is one of the most diverse in all of Europe.
Among the sites that we saw today on our tour was Het Steen, the picturesque tower of the Cathedral of our Lady, the Church of St. Paul featuring the historic artwork of the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, and the city's bustling market square.
Saturday will be primarily a travel and game day. The team will check out of the Marriott Ghent at 10 a.m. and head south to Notre Dame-de-Gravenchon, France, located about three hours from Ghent. There we will stretch our legs and eat a pregame meal in advance of the 4 p.m. contest against Rouen, a French Pro B club that we think will be the strongest of our five opponents on this trip.
After the game everyone will check into the Hotel du Golf Barriere in Deauville, France and rest up for Sunday's much-anticipated tour of Normandy.
That's all for now. Thanks for following the team and Go Bison!
