Bucknell University Athletics
Postcards from Europe 2014: Day 7 in Paris and Drancy
5/27/2014 7:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PARIS, France – For the Bison players, our final full day in Paris was all about competition. The day began with our own Bucknell version of “The Amazing Race,” and it ended with a resounding 99-61 defeat of Drancy BBC in the last of five games on this European trip.
For those unfamiliar with the hit CBS show “The Amazing Race,” the premise is that two-person teams race around the world via predetermined checkpoints. Four years ago on the men's basketball team's trip to Italy the Bison did a race through Rome, and it was a big hit with the guys. This morning they reprised the competition in Paris, with the following checkpoints:
1. The famous Pyramid at The Louvre
2. Pont des Arts, also known as the “Locks of Love” bridge. For bonus points, teams could add their very own personalized lock to the bridge.
3. The statue of Charlemagne at Cathedral of Note Dame.
4. Underneath the Eiffel Tower. Bonus points for getting a photo with a street vendor selling replicas of the Eiffel Tower.
5. Trocadero steps. Bonus points for a photo of one of the renowned breakdancers at the top of the steps.
6. The Eternal Flame by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe.
7. Back home at the Marriott Opera Ambassador.
The players were armed with city maps and were permitted to use any means necessary to get to the next checkpoint – on foot, Metro, city bus, etc.
And the winners, clocking in at about two hours and 20 minutes, was the team of Cameron Ayers, Joshea Singleton and Cory Starkey. They returned to the hotel drenched in sweat even though the temperature never got out of the 50s here today, indicating their work rate was high.
The foursome of Steven Kaspar, Dom Hoffman, Ryan Hill and Matt Banas took runner-up honors.
After the race, the members of the traveling party had the rest of the day to see Paris on their own, perhaps revisiting places from yesterday's formal tour or exploring new destinations. Many went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, some visited Sacre Coeur, and a few even went to Roland Garros to see the French Open.
After dinner, the team headed to the bus at 6:15 to get to Drancy, a suburb northeast of Paris. On these international tours, you never really know what to expect in terms of the atmosphere at the games. Well tonight was absolutely wild!
When we arrived at the gym the place was jam-packed, and a game was underway between two teams comprised of young men with special needs. It was great fun cheering them on, and we also spent more than a few euros at the concession stand, which was full of delicious home-made pies and pastries.
After the floor was cleared, Bucknell came out for warmups, and scores of youngsters from the local neighborhood gathered on the baseline to watch. They were thoroughly delighted as Joshea Singleton, Steven Kaspar, Chris Hass and others put on a show for them with a variety of dunks. The kids loved it, and they surely became Bison fans tonight.
When the game started, the focus quickly shifted from rim-rocking dunks to the Chris Hass 3-point shooting extravaganza. Hass has shot the ball very well on this trip – he came into tonight's game averaging 25 points per game and had made 18 of 35 3-point attempts – but he took it to another level in the first quarter at Drancy.
Each of Bucknell's first five possessions of the night ended with Hass draining a 3-pointer. Just 2:29 into the game it was Hass 15, Drancy 2, and Hass was on pace for a 240-point night. He hit the 20-point mark with 4:30 left in the first quarter, and at the end of the opening period he had 22 points on perfect shooting: 7-for-7 from the field, 6-for-6 from 3-point range and 2-for-2 from the foul line.
The Bison led 37-17 after 10 minutes, and then in the second quarter Drancy had a man shadowing Hass over every inch of the court. He did not attempt a shot in the period, but it didn't matter as the Bison had amassed a 54-36 lead by halftime and a comfortable 78-47 cushion after three.
Singleton stamped an exclamation point on both the evening and the five-game Euro schedule with two more crowd-pleasing dunks in the final minute, and the Bison turned down an opportunity to shoot for the 100-point mark by letting the final seconds of the clock elapse.
Hass finally missed a shot in the third quarter, but he finished 8-for-10 from the arc and 9-for-11 overall in a 28-point night. That left his five-game scoring average at 25.6 and his 3-point percentage at .578 (26-45).
Hass was not the only Bison to play well tonight. John Azzinaro hit four treys and tallied 14 points, three assists and four steals. Steven Kaspar dished out seven assists. Cameron Ayers scored 12 points, Singleton had 11, and Ben Oberfeld scored nine. Ryan Frazier had seven points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Singleton and Starkey led the team with seven rebounds apiece.
Despite playing without the red-hot Dom Hoffman, whose mild ankle sprain suffered in last night's game kept him out tonight, Bucknell finished with a 46-39 rebounding advantage and shot 47.4 percent from the field. The Bison hit 17 3-pointers in 34 attempts, made all 10 of their free throws and forced 28 Drancy turnovers.
As the game ended, seniors Ayers, Ryan Hill and Brian Fitzpatrick all walked off the floor together for the final time in a Bison uniform (senior Ben Brackney was unable to come on the trip due to his new job). It was a moment that was easily missed since about 200 kids rushed the floor for autographs and photos as soon as the horn sounded, but it was a poignant one nonetheless for the winningest class in program history.
Tomorrow everyone will have a chance to have a final breakfast in Paris and wrap up any last-minute souvenir shopping here, and then at 11 a.m. the team will take a long bus ride into Montreaux, Switzerland. It will be about a seven-hour ride, including a mandatory one-hour rest stop for the bus driver. But we hear Montreaux is beautiful, so hopefully the long ride will be well worth it.
Unless anything noteworthy happens on the bus ride – we hope not! – our next report will come on Thursday after we have had a chance to check out the town and take some photos in the daylight. Until then … Go Bison!
