Another Loss

Tough loss last night for BCM at home. We played the #1 team (Roanne) in the league and lost 80-74. This loss definitely hurts us and puts us all the way back to 5th in the league right now. Its still a long season but I really wanted that game last night. Roanne ended up hitting 17 three pointers. They scored 51 out of their 80 points off of 3 pointers. We had 3 guys in double figures last night. Juby had 10 points and Yannick had 15 points. I had 25 points (7-14 2FG, 2-4 3FG, 5-8 FT), 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals. You have to give credit to Roanne they were hot last night and it didn't seem like they ever missed. We have to get ready for our next game on Tuesday. We have a EuroChallenge game at home vs a Hungarian and if we win by more than 2 points we qualify for the next round. So no matter how much last nights game hurts we need to get ready to play a big game on Tuesday.

Otherwise not much else is new over here in France. We are getting some snow right now, not nearly as bad as it is back home but it is the most I have seen over here in France. Looking forward to spending time with the family of Christmas. Shout out to my sister Bryn, she is currently the starting point guard for her high school team as a 9th grader. She is doing really well so keep up the good work! Thats all for now, take care and God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

EuroChallenge

Good evening, it is cold over here in France but I am guessing that it isn't as bad as back home. Its a perfect night for some hot chocolate and a movie!! I wanted to fill you in on our last EuroChallenge game out in Russia. We played the team that beat us earlier in the year by 40, except this time it was a much closer game. We ended up losing 85-77 but it was a pretty good game throughout. I ended up with 15 points, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds. We are currently 2-3 in EuroChallenge, however if we beat the Hungarian team at home next Tuesday by more than 2 points we will advance to the next round of EuroChallenge.

Speaking of looking ahead we have a big game tomorrow night vs Roanne. They are currently in 1st place in our league at 8-2. We are right behind them at 7-3. The game is sold out for tomorrow night and it is live on TV across France. It should be a pretty exciting atmosphere in the Sportica. Hopefully we can get things rolling again and have a great game defensively. Well that is all for now, I just got the call from the kitchen that supper is ready, and boy do I love my fiances cooking!!! Have a wonderful night and stay warm. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

7-3 French League, Tough Loss

Good evening. I am currently sitting in another hotel room in Paris this evening. I thought it would be a wonderful time to update you on how the past couple games have gone. We were 7-2 after 9 games with a win over Asvel. In that game we had 4 guys in double figures. I had 16 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals. We won the game 73-67. At that time we were tied for first place in our league.

However, after last night's tough loss we dropped back in the standings now. We lost last night to a good Chalon team. The final score was 80-70. We found ourselves slow from the start and we were down 20 points at half. We came storming back and brought it within 6 points with 4 minutes to go. They hit back to back 3's which pretty much sealed the deal for them. Our standing is now at 7-3 tied for 2nd with 3 other teams. It is definitely disappointing losing that game, but it is a long season and we need to stay focused and continue to get better. In that game we had 4 guys in double figures. Cyril had 15 points, Yannick had 10 points, and Juby had 11 points. I ended with 23 points (6-8 2FG, 1-4 3 FG, 8-9 FT), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 steals. Its a tough loss but now we have to regroup and get ready for our next game.

As you know I am in Paris we are waiting to catch a flight tomorrow for St. Petersburg, Russia. We are playing in a EuroChallenge game Tuesday night. It is going to be a tough game, since we lost to this team last time by 40 points. We didn't play well at all and this time we should put up a better fight. I hope everyone back home is safe with the storms that are traveling through. Shout out to both Bison Men's programs (football and basketball), they both played great the other night. Tough call by the refs on the football end of things and mens basketball took it too UND. Nice work! I need some rest so I will talk to you later. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

6-2 French League, 1-1 EuroChallenge

Hey there! I am currently sitting in a hotel room waiting to go to Hungry tomorrow morning to play another game in the EuroChallenge. We play a Hungarian team (1-1) and it should be a good game. I know that I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog, I guess thats what happens when the family is in town for a week you tend to forget about updating the blog. So please bear with me throughout this update:

Nov. 20th- We played a French League game at home vs. Pau. We won 80-68, we had 3 guys in double figures. Bokolo had 21 points, Johnson had 18 points and I ended with 17 points (2-8 2FG, 1-5 3FG, 10-13 FT), and 11 assists. It was the first double double for me of the year and it was nice because that was the first game my family got to see. It was a good win for us and it brought our record to 5-2 overall in the French League.

Nov. 23rd- We played one of our EuroChallenge games at home. It was not a good game for us. This is the worst that we have been beaten since I have been a part of BCM. We got beat by a very good Russian team 58-98. It was a 40 point shellacking! We had a few guys that were injured and we were definitely out matched. One of there players scored 27 points inside in the first half. We didn't get any stops on defense and they really outplayed us from top to bottom. Enough about that game ha!

Nov. 27th- Last night we played an away game vs. Strasbourg. They are an excellent home team and it was a fight all the way to the finish. We came out on top 90-81. We had 4 guys scoring double figures. Cyril had 13 points, Issa had 14 points, Bokolo had 20 points. I had 21 points (5-9 2FG, 0-3 3FG, 11-13 FT) 4 assists, and 2 steals all coming in the 2nd half. I got called for 2 fouls (terrible calls) right away in the first half and I had to sit the entire half. I was quite frustrated at halftime and the fire was burning inside me. I keep my focus and decided to be even more aggressive in the 2nd half. It ended up being a good night for our team and a great win for us. Our record stands at 6-2 in the league and tied or first place. Hopefully we can keep things rolling next weekend when we play Asvel at home.

Like I said before we fly out to Hungry for a EuroChallenge game tomorrow morning. It will be a new adventure for me heading to a country that I have never been to before. I will let you know how the game goes in the next update. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (we have plenty to be thankful for)! Shout out goes to my Mom and Dad, thanks for spending a week with AJ and I here in France. It was great to be with you guys and spend some time with you, we had a blast and are thankful you came over. Not to mention the Thanksgiving feast we had at the house was EXCELLENT!! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Tough L

Good afternoon! Its rainy and cloudy here in Gravelines for what seems to be the 20th day in a row. We haven't had the sun peek out in a long time. I better get used to it though because thats the way the winters are over here; cloudy and rainy.

On Friday we had a game down in Le Harve and came back with a 76-70 loss. The score doesn't show how bad we really played. We were down 22 at halftime. It seemed like every shot they took they were making, but thats because we let their offense get into a flow. We didn't pressure well enough and we flat out weren't playing aggressive on defense and thats how you get down 22 points by halftime. We came out in the 2nd half fighting our way back. We ended up being down 4 points with a minute to go but they made a couple more fast break points and we ended up losing the game by six. Yannick had 16 points, Jeff Greer had 11, I had 14 points (1-6 2FG, 2-7 3FG, 6-6 FT), 4 assists in 24 minutes of play. It was a tough loss for us and our record stands at 4-2 overall. We are tied for 2nd with four other teams. Hopefully we can bounce back next weekend when we play Pau.

We are heading out to Russia tomorrow morning for a EuroChallenge game. We start the EuroChallenge games this week and we play every Tuesday. So our playing schedule is every Tuesday and Saturday until Christmas. Tuesday being the EuroChallenge games and Saturday being our French League games. I am looking forward to playing twice a week. My family is coming across the pond to visit next weekend so AJ and I will enjoy their company. My shout out goes to Michael Tveidt today for getting the Bison Mens BBall team their first win of the season and going over the 1,000 point mark, so congrats to Tveidt thats a great accomplishment. Thats all for now, gotta head to practice and get better today. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Food Poisoning and a Win (4-1)

Good afternoon! We had a little schedule change this past weekend and instead of playing last Saturday we had a game last night at home vs Poitiers. Before I get to the game I wanted to tell you what has been happening over here in France leading up to the game on Tuesday. On Sunday night all of a sudden I notice that my stomach doesn't feel so good and figure I just have a normal stomach ache. I should just drink some water and head to bed. Little did I know what was about to happen the rest of the night. I was up the whole night with food poisoning! I vomited from 12am-9am all of Sunday night and into Monday morning. My body finally decided to keep things down around 10am, so the rest of Monday I laid around all day nibbling on 2 pieces of toast and drinking sips of water. Not knowing how I was going to feel on Tuesday for the game and my body was so fatigued that I feel asleep at 9pm Monday night and woke up Tuesday morning at 9am for shoot around still feeling very groggy. Tuesday afternoon comes around and I haven't really eaten anything the past 24 hours and I really don't feel like eating anything. So I basically went to the game Tuesday night on an empty stomach. When I was sitting in the locker room waiting before the game I had no energy and I was wondering how I was going to make it through this game. So I decided to say some prayers to the Lord because I always know I can go to Him.

We came away with a 94-60 win! We played well on defensive throughout most of the game except in the 2nd quarter. They made a little run in the 2nd however we stepped up our defense and came away with a great win. We are sitting at 4-1 in league right now. We had 5 guys in double figures. Cyril had 16 points, Yannick had 10 points, Jeff Greer had 14 points, Juby Johnson had 12 points. I ended the game with 28 points (9-14 TFG, 5-7 3FG, 5-7FT), and 9 assists, so back to asking the Lord for some strength, I all of a sudden felt great during the game and I felt like I could have played for days, I wonder where that strength came from, I'll let you decide that one ;)! All in all it was a great win for our team, we play again on Friday at Le Harve. I am feeling a lot better today and I am finally eating food and it tastes delicious!! Gotta jet to practice, God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

3 in a row!

Good morning everyone back home! Its a cloudy and misty day out over here in France which makes it a perfect opportunity to update the blog. Since I haven't updated the blog in awhile I am going to give you an overview of the last few games and the drama that went down in last nights game. We are currently on a 3 game winning streak after losing our first game of the season. We are sitting at 3-1 overall in the league. As you know we won our first game at home and then the following week we played Vichy where we got another home win under our belt. We ended up beating Vichy 84-48 which had us at 2-1 overall in the league. Which brings us to last nights game on the road vs Orleans.

This game was a very defensive minded game. Both teams were playing well on defense causing the other team to take tough shots. It was also a very physical game, there weren't many easy baskets to come by in this game. We jumped out to an early 10 point lead through the first quarter and a half. Orleans ended up cutting the lead to 9 by half time. Coming out of the half we were a bit sluggish and our defense wasn't clicking on all cylinders. Orleans ended up taking the lead by 5 going into the 4th quarter. We battled our way back and and were down 1 point with a 1:30 to go. We got a stop on defense and I called a screen and roll and got fouled coming off the pick. We were in the bonus so I got to shoot 2 free throws. I made both free throws and we went up by a point. We got a stop on defense, came down on offense and we hit a 2 pointer with 45 seconds to go, which put us up 3. Then we got another spot on defense, however we had a turnover immediately after that and Orleans hit a 3 pointer off the turnover to tie the game with 20+ seconds to go. We came down on offense ran a pick and roll and I passed it to one of our bigs who was right under the basket, he then passed it back out to Juby Johnson with 11 secs to go who hit the game winning 3 pointer to put us up by 3 with 10 seconds to go. Orleans missed on the offensive end and we ended up winning a dramatic game 62-59. It was a great win and a great shot by Juby to put us in the lead. Like I said before it was a defensive battle and points were hard to come by last night. Juby led the team with 13 points. I had 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists. And Chris Owens had 11 points as well to round out the guys in double figures. It was a great win for us which puts as at 3-1 overall.

We don't play again until Tuesday Nov. 9th so we have a little bit of a stretch before our next game. We play at home vs. Poitiers who is 1-3 but capable of beating anyone at anytime. It should be another good French League game. I hope you all are having a great Halloween back home. You know I always have to give my shout out, so today I want to give a shout out to my father-in-law Dave Durick who turned 50! Believe it or not Dave I even knew about your surprise party all the way over here in France. Hope you had a great time. Take care and God Bless you all! (Joshua 1:9)

First home game, First win

We had our first regular season home game on Saturday and we came away with a big win. Our record stands at 1-1. We played the defending champions Cholet and ended up beating them 88-52. We played a great game all around (defense, rebounding, shooting, etc). It finally felt like our team came together and played well for all 4 quarters. I think that everyone on the team is starting to understand our system and it definitely showed on Saturday night. We had 3 guys in double figures and 4 guys with 6 points or more. Cyril had 20 points and Yannick had 16 points. I had 17 points (5-11 FG, 1-2 3FG, 4-5 FT), 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. It was a great effort on our teams part and a great win for us.

Next Saturday we play at home again vs. Vichy who is currently 1-1 as well. They have a good team and it should be another great game at the Sportica. I look forward to filling you in with how the game goes next week. I want to give a shout out and congratulations to the newlyweds Travis and Sara Durick who got married on Saturday, wish I could have been there but I heard it was a great time. I will post again soon. God Bless (Jeremiah 29:11)

First game, 0-1

Hey everyone.. Sorry I haven't written on my blog in a long time. I do have a legit excuse however... my fiance is over here this year so instead of spending time on the computer updating the blog all the time I am traveling around France with her. I would say that is a fair excuse.

We had our first game on Saturday and we came away with a lose to Nancy 78-70. We didn't shoot the ball well at all (5-31 3FG). We also had some turnovers that lead to fast break points for Nancy that definitely hurt us. We didn't play our transition game well at all, and I don't know how many fast break points we got but it wasn't much at all. You have to give Nancy credit they played well and they got easy baskets in transition. Yannick Bokolo lead our team with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. I had 10 points (3-7 TFG, 2-3 3FG, 2-2 FT), and 3 assists. You always want to start the year off by getting a win which we didn't do so that is kind of frustrating, but last year we started out 0-1 as well and we ended up having a pretty good year. Hopefully this year we will do the same.

Our next game is vs. Cholet on Saturday. They are the defending French Champions and it will be a tough one for us. It is at home and I am really looking forward to getting back on the court for some competition. We need to have a good week of practice for the preparation of Saturdays game. I will be updating more frequently now that the regular season has started so keep checking out the blog. Have a wonderful day and like always God Bless (Matthew 7: 7-8).

Back to Blogging

Hey!!! As you can see I am back to blogging again, which means that I am back in France. However this year is a little bit different than last year. This year I am joined by my fiance Amanda. She will be staying with me all year long even though she will go back a few times for weddings, family, etc. But, I am ever happy to have her over here this year. Yesterday we got to France early in the morning and stayed awake all day long so that we wouldn't have jet lag too bad. This morning I am feeling pretty good but we will see how I feel later this afternoon. This morning I already went in for my beginning of the year foot appointment and later on I have to take a couple medical tests. Trying to get all this medical appointments that I do ever year done as soon as possible.

Well I wanted to write you a let you know that we made it safely to France and it will be another fun filled journey this year. Looking forward to updating and connecting with people back home. I want to give a shout out to my boy Mike Nelson who is going to be heading over to Switzerland to play this year. He definitely deserves it and I know that the team will really enjoy having him around. Thats it for now, chat again soon. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Back to France.

Hey everyone, it has been a long and exciting off season for me this summer. I have been training, playing with Golden State Warriors for summer league, got engaged to my wonderful fiance and now I am returning to France for my second professional career with my team from last year Gravelines, France. I am really looking forward to getting back to France to continue my professional career. I am also looking forward to playing with my old teammates from last year (Bokz, Cyril, Juby) and also looking forward to meeting our new teammates that have joined the ride this summer.

I thought I would give you a quick update on what I am doing. I look forward to writing on my blog again this year to give you updates on games. Have a wonderful day. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Summer League

Good afternoon! I am currently sitting down in Las Vegas waiting to start up summer league tomorrow. I am going to be playing with the Golden State Warriors. I will be playing 5 games while I am down here. We first start out with 2 days of 2-a-days and then we have 3 straight games followed by practice, game, practice, game. It will be a great 13 days down here and I am really looking forward to getting out on the court tomorrow morning. I am thankful that the Warriors gave me the opportunity to play with them this summer. I thought I would give you a quick update on what I am currently doing right now. I hope that you are having a wonderful summer. Hope its not as hot as it is down here in Vegas! Take care and I will keep you updated on what I am doing. God Bless! (Joshua 1:9)

Season Finished

Hey everyone.. As you can see in my title, my first season as a professional basketball player in France is finished. Last night we played the number #1 team in our league Cholet, and lost 84-71 in the last game of our 3 game series. It definitely hurts losing this series since we took game 1 at their place, but we ended up losing 2 games in a row to them. It was a wonderful year over here in France and I had a great experience. I am going to continue using my blog throughout the summer since I have a lot going with NBA summer league and many decisions to be made in terms of my career. I want to thank you all for following me through my blog this year, I have had 30,000+ views from all of you and I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me knowing that people still want to follow my career. I encourage you to continue to follow me and I will let you know what the future holds for me this summer. I am not sure exactly when I am heading back to the "land of the free" but it should be sometime next week. Take Care and as always God Bless you today :) (Joshua 1:9)

Highlights Semi-Final #1

Here are some of the highlights from game 1 of our semi-final round. The last lay-up I make is the game winner. We have our 2nd semi-final game at home tomorrow. If we win tomorrow then we are in the French League Championship in Paris. I will let you know how it goes. Enjoy... God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

http://www.bcm.deltafm.fr/index.php?id=2280

Semi-finals game 1

Good afternoon. I got in this morning around 7:00am from our road trip in Cholet where we played our first game of the semi-finals. It was an unbelievable game from start to finish. We ended up winning 70-68 in OT. Both teams played extremely intense and it got to the point where there were 3 intentional fouls called and some technical fouls. The emotions were running high from the start of the game to the finish. They missed a shot at the end of regulation for the win which lead to 5 minutes of OT. It was a tied game 68-68 with 34 seconds to go. We got the ball inbounds to our 2 guard Yannick Bokolo and he dribbled it across half court and handed it off to me. We ended up clearing out the lane with 6 seconds to go on the shot clock and I drove in and made a scooping right handed lay up to put us up by two 70-68 with 10 seconds to go. They called time out and set up a play. With around 2 seconds to go in the game their big man had a shot about 5 feet from the basket but our 4 man Cyril came out of no-where and blocked the shot at the buzzer, and that was the game. It was a great win for us now that we are leading the series 1-0 we play at our place on Wednesday. If we win on Wednesday we are in the French League Championship for all the marbles. If we lose on Wednesday we will have to go back to Cholet for the last game of the 3 game series. Hopefully we can close out the series on Wednesday. It is going to be another tough game but I am looking forward to having the opportunity to play for another championship. I ended up finishing the night with 12 points (5-6FG, 2-4FT) and 6 rebounds.

I will give another update when we have some highlights or photos from this game or after our next semi-final game on Wednesday. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday afternoon. God Bless you today! (Joshua 1:9)

On to the Semi-Finals

Good Afternoon... I just got back from the beach here in town and am relaxing on the couch and I remembered I haven't updated you on our last game. We had our second game in the first round of playoffs on Saturday down in Nancy. Both teams came out with a lot of energy and it was a close game at half. However, we turned it on in the 4th quarter and we won the game 74-58 which means that we are on to the semi-finals. We play Cholet (who is #1 in our league) on Saturday down at their place. They have home court advantage over us since they are the 1 seed and we are the 4 seed. It will be a great game and we are really looking forward to it. The only bummer is that it is a week away. You know me and liking to play games all the time, I really don't like waiting a week to have to play another playoff game, but thats just how it goes I guess.

Shout out to mama Woodside and AJ back home, they competed in the marathon and 1/2 marathon this past weekend in Fargo and both had PR's (personal records), proud of you both! I will let you know how the game goes on Saturday. That's all the news I have for you right now. I am going to continue to enjoy the beautiful weather that we have over here right now. I hope that you have a wonderful day and God Bless. (Joshua 1:9)

French Cup & Playoffs

Hey there!! Sorry I haven't written on my blog in awhile. I have been spending some quality time with my family that came over and visited for a couple weeks. They left this morning so I thought I would catch you up on everything that has been going on over here. First off we played in the French Cup Championship game and lost by 4 points. We didn't play well at all in the first half and we found ourselves down by 10 points. However, we had a strong 2nd half and came back and actually took a 5 point lead with 4:30 left to go in the game. They hit back to back 3 pointers and took the lead back and they never looked back. We ended up fouling and they made their free-throws down the stretch and we lost by 4 points. I want to say thank you to our fans that went down to Bercy and supported us. We had thousands of fans that came down in 45 bus loads to support us. I really appreciate all the fans that went down and I also want to say thank you to the fans that came out and supported our first round playoff game last night. Its always enjoyable playing in front of you fans. Below are some of the pictures of our fans from our French Cup game in Paris (hint-they are in orange ;))

I also want to fill you in on our game last night. We had our first round playoff game last night at home vs Nancy. We came away with an 84-82 win. It was a great comeback game for us. Right away we found ourselves down by 14 points and nothing was going right for us. We struggled with our assignments on defense and we couldn't find a rhythm on offense. However that changed in the 2nd half. We held them to just 29 points in the 2nd half and we were very effective on offense. We had 5 guys in double figures. The game came down to the wire, I was at the free throw line with 37 seconds to go and knocked down both free throws which gave us a 84-82 advantage. They came down, got fouled and went to the free throw line. They missed both free throws with 30 seconds to go. We had to get a shot off since there is a 24 second shot clock. We missed the shot with 6 seconds left, they pushed the ball up the floor and one of there players missed a contest 3 point shot as time expired and we won the game. Now, we head to their place on Friday and play again on Saturday. That is the basketball updated news that I have for you :).

Like I said before my family left this morning so I will be more up to date on my blogs here on out until the end of the season. I hope you are having a wonderful day back home. God Bless you all!!! (Joshua 1:9)

Regular Season 20-10

Good morning!! I am just getting ready to head down to Paris for the French Cup Championship. We had our last regular season game on Tuesday and we came away with a win, final score being 93-80. We had 3 guys in double figures. I had 28 points (9-14TFG, 6-8FG, 3-6 3FG, 7-10 FT), 6 rebounds, 5 assists. Cyril and Yannick were the other two in double figures and they both had 17 points. It was a great win for us since it secured 4th place in the league and we have home court advantage in the first round of playoffs. Sorry this is short but I have to get to the bus. I will update you on how the Cup Championship game goes. Talk to you later, God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Highlights from Road Win

Here is the link for some of the highlights from our last road win in Nancy. I keep trying to get the html to work so you can view the video right on my blog but I am not having any luck. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

http://www.bcm.deltafm.fr/index.php?id=2276

Road Win

It was a great road win on Friday for BCM Gravelines. It was a big win for us because now we are currently in 4th place alone and if we win our last home game we lock up home court advantage in the first round of playoffs. We were tied with Nancy record wise going into Friday nights game, so it was nice being able to get a road win and having a shot at having home court advantage in the first round. We ended up winning 87-72. It was a 2 point game at half but in the 2nd half we played well on defense and we were efficient on offense which helped us extend the lead. It was another very balanced scoring effort on our team. We had 5 guys in double figures. JK Edwards lead the team with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Cyril had 17 points, Juby Johnson and Yannick Bokolo each had 14 points. I had 10 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. It was a great win for our team and we moved the ball well and found ourselves getting great looks. Our record is currently 19-10 and like I said before we are in 4th place alone. Our next game is Tuesday, May 11th at home vs Paris. Paris is fighting for a playoff spot and we are fighting to lock up 4th place so it is going to be a great game coming up next Tuesday.

A couple other FYI's... my mom, aunt, and cousin are coming over here on Saturday and they are staying for a couple weeks. They were planning on coming earlier but the volcano that erupted postponed their flights until now. I am looking forward to some company and it will be a great experience for them. They get to watch a couple games and I will show them around the France country side. Other than that I am doing well and trying to finish out the season strong. I hope you will have a blessed Monday afternoon. Praying for you all!! God Bless (Joshua 1:9).

On to the Cup Championship

Well, well, well...BCM Gravelines is going to be playing in the French Cup Championship on May 16th. Last night we had the semi-final game of the French Cup and we came away with a win verse Rouen. It was a great game from the opening tip until the final buzzer. We ended up winning 72-69. We extended our lead a couple times to 10 points throughout the game but Rouen very gave up and they fought until the final buzzer. We ended up being up by 2 points with 17 seconds to go and I got fouled. I went to the line to shoot my two free throws and I missed the first one. I ended up making the second free throw and going ahead by 3 points. They got a couple shots on the final possession to try and tie the game but none of them went down. Below is a little highlight from last nights game. Also below is highlights from our game last Saturday at home verse Poitiers. We were all pretty excited about the win last night and it will be great for us to compete for a championship come May 16th. We had 3 guys in double figures last night. I had 21 points (7-14 TFG, 2-7 3FG, 5-7 FG, 5-6 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 TO. Demetris Nichols had 17 points, 7 rebounds and JK Edwards had 16 points and 7 rebounds. It was a good win for us and we are looking forward to the championship game, but first we have a game on Friday in Nancy. It will be a big game for us but a tough one since it is on the road and we are tied with them for 4th place right now.

Well I am going to relax and watch a movie. I hope you have a wonderful night back home. It was 82 degrees here today and it is making me really want summer to come around. I was very comfortable wearing shorts and a t-shirt all day. I will fill you in on how the game goes on Friday. Goodnight and God Bless! (Joshua 1:9)

http://www.bcm.deltafm.fr/index.php?saison=&cat=4&id=2275

http://www.tele-astv.fr/videos-astv-sports-372-bcm-poitiers.html

WIN!!!!

Good afternoon! I am currently streaming the NBA playoffs on my computer and there is a break in the action so I figured I would fill you in on how our game went last night. As you can tell in my title we got a win. A much needed win to say the least. We were on a 2 game losing streak so last night's win was great for us. Hopefully it can get us back on track since we have 2 games this week. We have our Final Four French Cup game on Tuesday down in Rouen and then we have our regular season French League game on Friday vs Nancy.

Last night we were down most of the game until the 4th quarter were we cut the deficit to 2 points and eventually took the lead. The first half we weren't attacking the basket enough and we weren't being aggressive enough, but in the 2nd half we were a lot more aggressive and we were getting to the basket more. We were down by 10 points in the 3rd quarter and then our defense started to step up and we got some important defense stops when we needed them. We ended up winning the game 77-68. We had a very balanced scoring effort last night with 5 guys in double figures. I had 20 points (5-12 TFG, 3-6 FG, 2-6 3FG, 8-9 FT), 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 turnovers. Cyril had 16 points, 6 rebounds. JK had 12 points, 7 rebounds. Juby Johnson had 10 points and Tony Stanley had 11 points. It was nice getting a win under our belt again so hopefully we can carry that over to next week's games.

Otherwise not much else is new over here in France. The season is starting to whined down with 2 regular season games left and then the start of playoffs. Weather is nice which is making me look forward to the nice summer weather ahead. Hope you have a blessed Sunday. Watching the Cavs game today?? Take care and God Bless :) (Joshua 1:9)

2 in a Row

Good Evening! I hope you are having a wonderful afternoon/evening. I am currently watching the Boston Marathon on T.V. since there isn't anything else on that I can understand. I am watching it and I can't wait for when my mom qualifies for it.. I know she can do it!

We had a tough game slip away from us this weekend. We played Strasburg on Saturday and lost 85-74, which makes for 2 losses in a row for us. We were up by 12 points in the 3rd quarter, however Strasburg cut into the lead at the end of the 3rd and ended up going up by 1 point with 7 minutes to go in the game. We couldn't find a rhythm and ended up missing shots. During the end of the 3rd and 4th quarter we didn't get the defensive stops that we needed. With that loss we drop to 5th place in our league. We have 3 regular season games to go and hopefully we can pull together these games down the stretch. I led the team with 16 points (5-10 TFG, 3-5FG & 2-5 3FG), 3 assists, and 2 rebounds, 0 turnovers. JK Edwards had 13 points (6-13 FG) and 8 rebounds and Tony Stanley rounded out the top guys in double figures with 10 points. This week we have to regroup and get a win this weekend at home when we play Poitiers. We lost to them down at their place earlier in the year but looking forward to playing them on Saturday.

I have posted a couple pictures from our game on Saturday. I hope that you are having a great start to your week and take care. My blessing's from France!! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Highlights from French Cup Game

Here are some highlights from our last French Cup game at home when we played Chalon. We have a French League game tomorrow vs Strasburg. I will update my blog and let you know how it went. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

http://www.bcm.deltafm.fr/index.php?id=2273

Tough One

Hello again, it is a windy afternoon over here in Gravelines, France but the sun is shining. I can tell that summer is getting closer with the daylight lasting longer. It doesn't get dark over here until around 9pm so my days are full of light which I enjoy. As you know we had game on the road last Saturday down in Orleans. It was a good game from both teams however we ended up coming up short with a 67-73 loss. We are now tied with 3 teams at 17-9 for the 3rd place spot. There were a couple keys to the game that hurt us: 1. Offensive Rebounds, we got killed on the glass and they had a number of 2nd chance points. 2. Turnovers, we had 11 turnovers compared to their 2. It seemed like we had a lot more than that but it is the simple fact that Orleans only turned it over 2 times so it makes are 11 seem like a lot. We had 4 guys in double figures. I had 11 points (1-2 FG, 3-6 3FG), 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 turnover. Jk Edwards, Yannick Bokolo, and Juby Johnson were the other players in double figures for the game.

Our last 3 out of 4 games are at home which is nice. What is also nice is that my mom, aunt, and cousin are coming over to visit me starting on Saturday and staying for a week. It will be great having company around the townhouse and I will most definitely be enjoying my moms cooking. I might be slacking on the whole "dishes" part next week since I will have 3 ladies at the house that I am sure would love to do some dishes haha jk. But they do get to see 2 games and I will take them to a couple different cities around the area to show them what France is all about. I am going to watch a movie and relax now. I hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for checking out my blog. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)!!!!!!

Final 4

Good afternoon! I want to give you a little update on how our game went last night for the French Cup. We played Chalon in the French Cup at home last night. We came away with a 81-56 win. With that win we are now in the Final 4 for the French Cup Championship. If we are to win our next game then we head down to Paris to play for the Championship. I want to remind you that the French Cup is completely separate from our French League games. We still have 5 regular season French League games ahead of us and then playoff's start May 19th. Last night we had a very solid game defensively. I think we played some great defense throughout most of the game. We had 3 guys in double figures. I had 14 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. Tony Stanley had 14 points (5/5 FG), and JK Edwards had 14 points to round out the 3 guys in double figures. We also had a number of guys that were right under double figures for scoring, so it was another balanced night for us on offense. Our next opponent for the French Cup is Rouen. We play them at their place. It will be a tough game for us down there, we played them once down their already this year and we came away with a 2 point win. We had to hit free throws down the stretch to win the game so it will be an interesting game for us. I believe that game is going to be played April 27th.

Below are some highlights from our regular season French League game that we played last Saturday. I wish I could directly post the highlights onto my blog but for some reason the html doesn't work so I gotta live with putting a link up for you. I hope you have a wonderful day and remember to be thankful for all that you have. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

http://www.bcm.deltafm.fr/index.php?saison=&cat=4&id=2271

Home Win

Good evening! I just got back from eating supper and watching a bball game at the Edwards residence. It was a fabulous meal and I am stuffed right now. I wanted to fill you in on how our game went last night and what is in store for us next week. We played Dijon last night and came away with a convincing win 88-54. It was a nice win for us at home and we are 17-8 now in the league. We will have to see what place we are in after today's games which are being played right now. It was a well balanced scoring effort throughout the whole team. Cyril lead the way with 20 points, 7 rebounds in 34 min of play. JK had 13 points, 4 rebounds. Juby Johnson had 13 points, 4 rebounds both playing 21 minutes. I had 13 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals in 23 minutes of play. We again had a number of guys in double figures which is always nice to see.

Next week we play on Tuesday for the French Cup. If we win on Tuesday we will be in the final 4 for the French Cup Championship. We play Chalon who we have played a couple times this season already. Then we play Orleans next Saturday for a French League game down in Orleans. It should be a great week of basketball and of course I always enjoy playing 2 games a week so I am super excited for that. The more games the better!! Hopefully we can string some wins together next week. I will give you a update on how the games go next week. I hope you all have a HAPPY EASTER. First remember why we celebrate Easter, and also be thankful for the family and friends you are around, nothing better than spending time with people that you enjoy being around. Have a wonderful night. God Bless (Joshua 1:9).

Road Trip

Hey evening everyone! How are you doing? I am currently sitting in my living room watching a Minnesota Twins spring game which means it will start getting nice out again. I am a big Twins fan and I am pretty excited to see them play in the new Target Field, and also watch our star Joe Mauer play. Sorry I haven't updated my blog recently, we have been on the road and my internet service has been terrible on the road. Its not quite the same hotels as back home. I want to talk to you about our French Cup game that we played and also our French League game that we played last night.

Starting with the French Cup game, we had to play Asvel again for the 4th time this year down at their place. We had lost the 2 previous games down there but this time it was a different story. It was a back and forth game and it eventually came down to the last couple possessions that decided the game. The score was 71-70 we were down by 1 with 20 seconds to go. Our 2 guard Yannick Bokolo had the ball with a few seconds remaining and drove to the basket and made a lay-up plus the foul. He converted on the free throw and we ended up winning by 2 73-71. This now means that we are in the final 8 for the French Cup Championship.

Our league game last night was a completely different story. We ended up losing to Roanne 101-73. It was a terrible game for us and frustrating for me personally. It seemed like we had no flow during the game. It was a frustrating shooting night for myself were I found myself going 0-6 from 3FG. It was just one of those nights where nothing was falling, and very frustrating. I am really looking forward to Friday to play again and bounce back. We were really disappointed in how we played and looking to redeem ourselves on Friday. We are currently tied for 3rd place in our league now. We have 6 games left in the regular season and then playoffs. But, since we only play 1 game a week those 6 games will take a month and a half to play. We play Dijon on Friday. We played them earlier in the year and came away with a 2 point win down at their place. It will be a tough game for us and the way we played yesterday anything can happen. Looking forward to the game on Friday. Again sorry for the delay in the blog updates, just got back this morning from a 6 day road.

I hope you all are having a wonderful week. I want to give a shout out to the Fab 4 from NDSU, checkerfred, tweeter, jv, and the rest of the guys, your in my prayers bros! Have a wonderful night and will update again soon....I promise! haha :). God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Tied for 2nd

Good afternoon! It is another gorgeous day in France and I am loving the sun. This afternoon I am cleaning my place and watching some NCAA March Madness. On Friday we played Vichy at home and we came away with a win. We had lost to them down in Vichy earlier in the year so it was nice to get a win back at home. Our record stands at 16-7 and in a tie for 2nd place. The two teams above us (Cholet and Le Mans) both lost, so now we are tied with Cholet for 2nd and one game out of first place Le Mans. We had 4 guys in double figures. I had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Cyril lead the way with 17 points, JK Edwards had 13 and Tony Stanley had 11. The final score was 72-61, we had a 20 point lead mid way through the 3rd quarter however Vichy has a lot of fight and they battled back in the 4th quarter. The closest they got was 9 points in the 4th quarter but we eventually knocked down free throws and came away with a great win that we needed.

Our next game is Wednesday for a French Cup game and then we play again on Sunday vs Roanne for a French League game. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday. I am going to make some lunch and watch some college basketball. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Game vs Cholet

Hey everyone!! Sorry I am a little late on letting you know how our game went down in Cholet. I have been busy traveling around France with AJ. I am going to get right down to it, we ended up winning down in Cholet in an incredible game. I am going to fast forward all the way to the 4th quarter when we were down by 2 with 20 seconds to go. I had the ball and went by my defender all the way to the hoop and missed a left handed lay-up with 11.2 seconds to go on the clock. However, at the same time one of our players had gotten hit in the back of the head so the ref's stopped the game to make sure he was alright. After the ref's stopped the game Cholet ended up calling a timeout to get the ball at half court. With 11.2 seconds to go Cholet was trying to get the ball in bounds but we played great defense and they ended up getting a 5 second call. So we got the ball at half court, and ended up getting the ball in play to Juby Johnson and he dribbled it up the court and with about 5 seconds to go he launched a 3-pointer and it was nothing but net. We went a head by 1 point and Cholet couldn't convert on the other end. It was a great game for our team, we all played together and stuck together and came out with a victory. We are currently still in 3rd place with the win however we are only 1 game out of 2nd place (Cholet) now and 2 games out of 1st place. Below is the last shot that Juby made.... ENJOY!!! I will be updating the blog again after our game on Friday. I am going to get going, but I hope you have a wonderful day. God Bless :)!! (Joshua 1:9)

Great Win

Good Afternoon... So I finally decided to update my blog.. I have been lazy I will just admit it. We played Hyeres-Toulen on Saturday and we came away with a great win. We had lost the previous 2 games so it was nice having the feeling of a win again. We came away with a 96-82 win. It was a tie ball game going into half time at 41 all. In the second half we finally got on a little bit of a roll and extended the lead and ultimately won the game by double digits. Hyeres-Toulen is a great offensive team and they have a number of guys that are very effective on the offensive end. We collectively started to have a better defensive effort in the 2nd half and thats what helped us push up the lead. Yannick Bokolo lead the way with 22 points and 5 rebounds. JK Edwards had 16 points and 6 rebounds. I had 14 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds. Cyril was the final guy in double figures with 10 points and 4 rebounds. Our offense was effective on Saturday in all categories which helped us put up 96 points. Overall it was a great win for us and our record stands at 14-7 tied for 3rd place.

This coming Saturday we play Cholet who is ranked 2nd in the league with a 16-5 record. We are on the road and it is going to be a great game. They are a great team and we will need to be playing our best offensively but more importantly we will need to play some solid defense. I am looking forward to playing another game. I just wish we had more than 1 game a week, I get to impatient with only 1 game a week haha. On another note my girlfriend is coming out to visit for spring break which will be nice since I haven't had a visitor since Christmas. I always enjoy company so it will be a great time and I am looking forward to it.

Below are a couple pictures from our game on Saturday. As you can see our fans enjoy it when we interact with them so we always go hit the drums after the games just to show our appreciation for them coming out and supporting us. If anyone would like to see anything different, have questions, want to find out something more specific, etc etc you can leave a comment below or hit me up via facebook or twitter. I will definitely respond to you and I would like some feedback good or bad (I can take criticism, I had Coach Miles as a college coach, haha just kidding Coach I enjoyed every minute of it..well almost every minute ;)) Speaking of Coach Miles, congrats to Miles at Colorado State for getting the most wins the team has seen in a decade. I hope you all have a wonderful day and God Bless!! (Joshua 1:9)

New Teammate

Good afternoon everyone! I just got back from our practice this morning and the first person I shake hands with is Julius "Juby" Johnson. Juby is our new teammate for the remainder of the year. He was playing in Croatia where he was on the same team for 5 years and won some championship's with them. He is an off-guard that can shoot, penetrate and is known for his defense. I think it will be a great addition for us and we are all excited to have him on the team.

Thats all I have for you right now. Just wanted to give you a quick update on our new teammate. Again I hope everyone is doing well back home. One other side note, my sister is playing in her first ever section game for Varsity on Wednesday vs Red Wing. If you see her or any other girls from the bball team, give them a shout out and wish them good luck. Take care. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Tough Loss in Lyon

Good Morning everyone!! I got back this morning around 8:30am from our away game in Lyon, took a little nap and now I am just relaxing thinking about all you back home. We had a tough loss last night vs Asvel. We played this team last week in the first round of the Week of Aces and lost. It was a very frustrating game for us. The game was back in forth for the first half, and we were up by 2 points going into half. The third quarter was a different story. I couldn't tell you how many points they got from the free throw line in this quarter. I know for a fact they were in the bonus with over 6 min to go in the quarter. It was a very one sided second half thats for sure. We couldn't get a call from the ref's and it seemed like they were always at the free throw line. You gotta give credit to Asvel they did hit some tough shots in the 2nd half and we didn't necessarily make all our shots, but we couldn't buy a call from the ref's. I really don't like talking about a game and complaining about the ref's, because the game of basketball shouldn't be about the ref's but WOW was it a frustrating game in those terms. Enough about them though, we had 3 guys in double figures last night. I had 16 points, Yannick had 15 points, and JK had 12 points. Our record stands at 13-7 tied with 2 other teams in the league. This last half of the season should be interesting to see how things play out. We gotta go back to practice and improve on our mistakes from our last game and correct them so we can play better coming up on Saturday.

Our next game is at home on Saturday vs Hyeres-Toulon. They have the leading scoring in the league and their record is 10-10. It will be a tough game for us and it should be a great game. I encourage all our fans to come out and support us. Lets pack the Sportica and get the place rockin!!

Not much else going on here in France. Today it is super windy and raining constantly. I am going to watch a few movies this afternoon and relax. Get ready for another week of training and playing the game I love. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and check back in to the blog in a few days I will give you another update on how things are going. God Bless you all!! (Joshua 1:9)

Week of Aces

Good Afternoon!! I am going to get right down to it and let you know how we did in the tournament that we played in this weekend. We played in a tournament called the Week of Aces, where the top 8 teams in the league play. We had to play the team that hosted the tourney which was Asvel and we lost the game. It was exactly like an away game for us. It was an ugly game from both teams. There wasn't any flow in the game and a lot of turnovers. The finally score was 52-55. I think we had 2 guys in double figures for the game. I believe I had 12 points, and 6 steals. But like I said before it was a really ugly game thats for sure, and we were disappointed that we lost in the first round. We actually play Asvel again this coming Saturday for one of our league games. I am definitely looking forward to that game. We got the weekend off which my body definitely needed and I of course went over to the Edwards house like always and hung out there most of the weekend. I went to Lille (city in France about 45 min away from Gravelines) with the Edwards family and walked around the city center. That is another place were I would like to take my family too. Other than that there really isn't much else going on. I am excited to get back in the gym this week and prepare for our upcoming game on Saturday. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. Take care and God Bless (Joshua 1:9).

Game vs Le Harve

Good evening! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! I just finished up eating some supper and now I am relaxing on the couch, so I thought I would let you know how our game went on Friday. We played Friday this week instead of our usual day of Saturday. We played Le Harve who we had played earlier in the year at their place. Friday was a home game for us and we came away with a win. We had 5 guys in double figures again (11 points, 12 points, 13 points, 14 points, and 15 points). I got called for a foul (terrible call) 2 minutes into the game so I sat almost all of the 1st quarter and some of the 2nd quarter. I did play all of the second half and I finished with 11 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. We controlled for most of the game, but Le Harve cut it to 9 points at the started of the 4th quarter. That would be the closest they came and we ended up winning 76-59. Our defense showed signs of improved from our previous games when we were on a bit of a losing streak. We are currently 13-6 still in 3rd place, but we are only 1 game out of 2nd place now. I want to say thanks to our fans. They really had that place rocking on Friday night and we thoroughly enjoyed playing in front of them. I urge our fans to keep coming out to the games and bring some noise!! We play in a tournament called "The Week of Aces" on Thursday in France. The Week of Aces is a tournament for the top 8 teams in our league. If you make it to the championship game you will be playing 3 games in 4 days. The tournament starts Thursday and goes through Sunday. It will be a great new experience for me and I am really looking forward to it. We play Asvel for our first game in the tournament on Thursday. Thats about all the basketball news going on over here in France. Below is a couple pictures of our fans dressing up for the game and being crazy. My teammate JK Edwards is in the back row, I have mentioned him a couple times in my blog so now you can put a face to the name.

Congratulations to the BISON with the big win over SDSU last night. I heard it was a great game and the Bison came away with a win in 2OT. Nice work!! Have a wonderful night and enjoy your Sunday! Praise be to God. Have a great day. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

First Time for Everything

I wanted to tell you all something that happened for the first time to me in my career. As I walked into the Sportica (our gym) after a film session I noticed that it was VERY VERY cold in the gym. I could almost see my breath (ok I am exaggerating.... a little), but it was extremely cold. So today for the first time in my career I had to wear a full out hooded sweatshirt under my jersey to stay warm hahahahaha! I thought it was pretty funny and something that I should share with you. I figured you might get a kick out of it. PS- I have a cold now!!

Below is a link of a couple highlights from our last game in Rouen. I hope everyone back home is staying warm and being careful in the weather your getting! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

http://www.bcm.deltafm.fr/index.php?id=2245

12-6

Quick update on our game Saturday. We played in Rouen (which is about 2 1/2 hours away) on Saturday and we came away with a win. We were down the entire game until the 4th quarter where we started to make our comeback. We progressively came back by getting defensive stops. Our defense in the first 2 quarters wasn't that great, but we definitely picked it up in the last 2 quarters and that is what helped us come away with a win. Five guys were in double figures that night. JK Edwards had 19 points and 9 rebounds, Yannick Bokolo had 18 points and 7 rebounds, 15 points and 8 rebounds came from Cyril, I had 11 points (7-8 FT), 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, and Rob Lewin had 10 points (5-5 FG). As you can see it was a well balanced scoring effort on our part. We had to make free throws down the stretch but we sealed the game at the line and came away with a win 80-77. Rouen had a completely different team from when we played them at the beginning of the year and before playing us they had won 4 out of their last 5 games. So it was a good road win for us. Our next game is this Friday vs Le Harve. They have made some adjustments to their team and are doing better than what their record shows so it will be a tough game. Really looking forward to playing again on Friday.

A couple side notes besides basketball: the weather over isn't bad. Coming from Minnesota and Dakota regions it isn't bad at all over here. Depending on the time of day it ranges from 40-55 degrees (I'm not trying to rub it in either haha). I am very comfortable driving my car around which is now a stick. I will admit I stalled it a couple times right away but I haven't done that in awhile so I am definitely used to it now. Ummmm.... Thats about it, other than that things are going well over here and I am really enjoying the experience of living in a different country. Talk again soon... God Bless (Joshua 1:9).

French Cup Game

Good evening everyone! I wanted to let you know how our first French Cup game went. First I want to explain what the French Cup is. The French Cup is a big tournament in which all the teams in France compete in. Teams from ProA (the league that I play in), Pro B, and a couple other leagues in France all compete for the French Cup Championship. If you lose at any point in the tournament you are out. The French Cup has nothing do to with our ProA league standings. Sorry if it is a little confusing but that is the simplest way to explain it.

We played Paris last night and we won 94-82. We were up the entire game and we played really well as a team. We had four guys in double figures. JK Edwards and Demetris Nichols lead the way with 21 points a piece. I had 17 points and 12 assists and Cyril Akpo had 15 points to round out the four guys in double digits. We played really well on offensive but it was nice to see that our defense was back to what it was like before Christmas Break. We played two great quarters of defense that pushed the lead above 20 points. They hit a couple shots down the stretch to bring the lead back to 12, but overall we played well. Hopefully we can continue play like we did this weekend. We play Rouen in our next French League game (not French Cup haha) on Saturday. They have won 4 out of the last 5 games and are playing well. It will be a great game.

Well I wanted to give you a quick update on our game last night. Below is the highlights from our last home game vs Le Mans. We lost the game, but I wanted to give you a couple highlights to check out. Enjoy your night!!! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

http://www.bcm.deltafm.fr/index.php?id=2244

Tough Loss

Good Afternoon!! I hope it is as nice back home as it is here now (kidding kidding), it is sunny and 55 degree's right now haha. I talked with my old high school coach Matt Addington today and I heard how cold the weather still is back home (BURRRRR)!! Congrats to Coach Addington as well, his team is tied for 1st place in their league (2 years ago that team was at the bottom their league). That guy can straight up coach, any college's looking for a new staff member, I suggest you look his way!!!! Not much else going on over here in France. Since it is so nice out teammate JK Edwards is grilling and I am about to head over there and be out in the sun and eat a nice grilled meal. Thanks again JK!!

We had a rough loss on Saturday. We played the number one team in our league and lost 87-71. We were down the whole game, but we ended up coming back in the 3rd quarter and found ourselves only down a couple points. However in the 4th quarter we had a number of turnovers that cost us and eventually lead to us losing. We are currently 11-6 right now and tied for 3rd place in the league. JK Edwards lead that way with 20 points (9-20 FG, 12 rebounds). I had 5 points (2-7 FG, 6 assists). We only had 12 assists as a team. We definitely didn't move the ball well at all. Our next game is tomorrow we play in the French Cup vs. Paris. The French Cup is a big tournament that includes all of the teams in France. If you lose at any time then you are out of the tournament. We also play on Saturday for our league game against Rouen. We played them once already this year and we got a win, however they have a completely different team right now and they have won 4 out of their last 5 games. It will be a tough game for sure.

Its about that time for me to head over and get some food at the Edwards residence. I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day. Take Care and as always God Bless (Joshua 1:9)- gotta love the man UP ABOVE!

1-1 After Road Trip

Hey there! After the 5 day road trip that we had last week we ended it with a record of 1-1. We lost our first road trip game at Vichy. We didn't play very well and we got beat by 21 points. I try not to remember that game too much. After that game our record stood at 10-5 and still in 3rd place. Last night we played Chalon and we got a much needed win. We won 82-75. We fell behind by 8 points at half, but the second half we battled back and it was a close ball game the entire 4th quarter. We needed some free throws at the end of the game to secure the road win. It was a win that we really needed since we had been on a bit of a losing streak. I ended with 23 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals in 40 minutes of play. JK Edwards had a solid double double with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Demetris Nichols and Cyril Akpomedah each were in double figures with 13 and 15 points. Rob Lewin one of our big men returned to action last night from an injury. It was definitely a nice spark for us having him back in action. Again we had a number of guys in double figures which is always nice to see. Our next game is this Saturday vs the first place team in our league Le Mans. I am looking forward to a good game and hopefully a good turn out with our amazing fans!

Below is a link that you can see some highlights from our Strasburg game which was played a while ago. I wanted to grab some type of highlights even though it is from awhile ago so you can see something other than pictures. Enjoy the French and enjoy the highlights. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I ask that each person that reads this says a simple pray for the people in Haiti as we all know how tragic that situation is. Take Care and God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

http://www.bcm.deltafm.fr/index.php?saison=&cat=4&id=2237

Pictures from Nancy game

Hey there! I am sitting in a hotel room bored right now so I thought I would put up some pictures from our last home game vs Nancy. We have a make up game tomorrow night in Vichy, which will be an exciting game. I am looking forward to getting back on the court after a loss to Nancy. Well here are a couple pictures that you can take a look at. Waiting for some highlights so I can post them as well. As always take care and God Bless! (Joshua 1:9)

Quick Update

Hey!! I wanted to write you a quick update on how things are going over here before I head to practice. We had a French League game on Saturday vs Nancy. We ended up losing 90-74. It was a tie ball game at half 43-43, but the second half they continued to play well and we didn't play our best. We have a number of guys with injuries that doesn't help. Yannick Bokolo our starting 2 guard hurt his hamstring again in the first half of the game and also our other big man Rob Lewin is out with a groin injury still. It definitely is hurting us that those guys are out with injuries. I ended up having 15 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds on 4/13 shooting. I definitely started to get tired in the 2nd half and I could tell that it was taking a toll on the body. I ended up playing 40 minutes that game. Cyril had 17 points and 7 rebounds and JK Edwards had 13 points and 8 rebounds. We play a make up game on Wednesday vs. Vichy that was cancelled due to the H1N1 virus that a couple of the players from Vichy had. Hopefully we can get back on track and come out with a road win. After that game we head to Rouen for another away game, so we will be on a 5+ day road trip. I will definitely let you know how the games go when I get a chance. Below is a picture of my face after the game. Can't remember if they called a foul or not, but lets hope so.

Other than basketball I got a new car. My teammate Demetris Nichols needed an bigger automatic car for his family so they asked me if I could give him my car. I gave him the automatic car that I had and in return they gave me a different car. However, this car is a stick shift. I really enjoy driving it around and it allows me to practice up on my manuel driving skills. I will admit I have killed it a couple times haha but I have had it for 5 days now and I definitely have the hang of it now. Its a bigger car than what I had before and it has more horsepower than my previous car. I do enjoy driving it. Well I wanted to let you know what else was going on over here just besides basketball updates. Everything is going pretty well, lets just hope that we can get back on track and get a winning streak going again. Hope you have a wonderful and blessed day. God Bless you all!! (Joshua 1:9)

Back with a WIN

Bon jour! (Hello, Good Day) Last night we had our last EuroChallenge game. We ended with a Win. We played a team from Russia, who we had played earlier in the year in Russia. We won 77-68. The Russian team had actually changed their team around quite a bit and we found ourselves playing James Gist, and Gerald Green (lottery pick out of high school). It was a fun game even though the game didn't help us in any way. We needed the Germany team to win last night in order for us to move onto the next round in the EuroChallenge. The Germany team lost last night which means we are out and did not qualify for the next round. There were 3 teams at 3-2 in our pool, however it is decided on point differential and we had the highest point differential so we are out. I was pretty bummed about that since now we have to go back to playing 1 game a week until we start the French Cup. Trey Johnson was on fire last night hardly missing a shot and scoring 30 points. I was next with 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds. Jk Edwards and Tony Stanley rounded out the guys in double figures with 10 points each. It was nice getting back on track and getting a win for us even though the game really didn't matter in terms of moving on to the next round or not.

Other than that, things are going well over here. I see the Lord blessing me day in and day out which I am extremely thankful for and praise him for it constantly. I pray that He is doing the same in your lives. It is kinda cold over here with snow on the ground right now. People say that they never get snow over here but so far this winter I have seen it pretty much every morning on the ground. I know is nothing to you people living in the Dakotas/Minnesota with the frigid cold weather, I get updated on it from my Grandpa and Grandma all the time haha!! Well I hope you have an amazing day, wanted to give you a quick update on how things are going over here and the game last night. Talk again soon! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

2 game losing streak

Good afternoon! I really really really don't like losing so you can imagine how the last couple games have gone. We are on a 2 game losing streak right now. We lost to a team out of Germany last Tuesday and we lost to Poitiers on Saturday (French League game). The French game really hurt us when we walked off the court with a lose. We have a couple guys with injuries/sickness so that doesn't help. Rob Lewin, one of our big men is still out with a groin injury and Yannick Bokolo (our combo guard) didn't play in the game on Saturday in Poitiers. We could have definitely used both of those guys. I came down with a sickness before the trip with a 101+ temp, having the fever and getting hot and cold chills (so much for that flu shot working huh??). I still played the game since we were short on players the way it was. Let me just quickly tell you how I was feeling. The entire game I was extremely weak, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was my head felt like it was in a box!! I was so congested it was hard for me to hear what was being said in the huddles haha. Thought I would just throw that in there and let you know how my body was feeling. I feel a lot better now and I am glad because we have another EuroChallenge game tomorrow at home. The game vs Poitiers we didn't play well at all. We didn't move the ball well as a team, played no defense, and we didn't shoot the ball that well. Trey Johnsen lead the team with 21 points, he was knocking down his shots and creating for others. I had 13 points (0-6 3 Fg), 8 assists, 3 rebounds, 5 TO :(! Hopefully we can get back on the winning streak that we were on. We are currently 10-3 and in 3rd place in our French League. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and if you ever want to chat or have specific questions for me don't be afraid to ask me. I am back to just myself over here in France so I will have plenty of time to respond. Take care and God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Victory in Strasburg

Good Afternoon! I am going to get right into what happened this past Saturday. We had an away game in Strasburg for our French League. It was quite the game. To start the game Strasburg was on FIRE. It seemed like they were never missing a shot. We got down by 14 at one point in the first quarter. However, we fought back and ended up being down 50-51 at half time. As you can see it was a high scoring first half. The second half started with both teams going back and forth for most of the 3rd quarter. We started to stretch the lead in the 4th quarter and eventually ended up winning 102-91. It was the highest point total we have had as a team this year. We had 5 guys in double figures. I had 23 points (5-9 FG, 2-2 3FG, 7-10 FT), 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. Our big man JK Edwards ended with 17 points on 7-13 shooting, 4 rebounds. Our new addition to the team Demetris Nichols had 16 points. Cyril had a nice double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Yannick Bokolo had 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists to round out the 5 guys in double figures. As you can see it was a very balanced scoring night. We have had this type of productivity in a number of games and it is always a pleasure playing this team basketball that we have! Our French League record stands at 10-2. There is two teams at 11-2 and we are at 10-2 to round out the top 3 in our league. We play a EuroChallenge game tonight at home verse a team from Germany. We are tied for first with the German team we play tonight. If we win tonight its pretty much a guarantee that we will play in the next round of the EuroChallenge. I will let you know how the game goes tonight with another update on the blog.

I pray that everyone had a safe and Happy New Year. I forgot to mention that I went to Brugge with my girlfriend yesterday and it was amazing there. Below are some photos from the trip that we went on to Brugge, Belgium. If you can ever get a chance to come over seas I suggest you hit up Paris along with Brugge. It is a wonderful place. They call it the Venice of the North supposedly. Well take care and I will write again soon. God Bless (Joshua 1:9).

Back In Business

I am back in business with my blog. I was on Christmas Vacation back home and took a minor leave of absence from the blogging scene. I arrived in France on Tuesday and played in the All-Star game that I got invited to on Wednesday, had two practices Thursday, traveled to Strasburg Friday, and we have a game tomorrow. It has been pretty eventful these last couple of weeks for me. I traveled back here in France with my girlfriend, which was nice because it allowed for some great company for all the travel hours that has consumed most of my time lately. Its always great having company at the house being able to talk with someone other than just my computer. We got to go to the Eiffel Tower, and a couple other sight-seeing places in Paris. Since the All-Star game was in Paris we got some time to venture out and check some places out. Paris is an amazing place!!

Well I just wanted to let you know that we have a game tomorrow and that I will get back to updating a couple times a week and filling you in on the life over here in France. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year to you! Be thankful for the things you have and God Bless! (Joshua 1:9)