Euro Win, League Loss

We have had a couple of games under our belt since I last updated the blog. First we played down in Portugal for a EuroChallenge game and came away with a 67-64 come back win. Our defense struggled in the first half and we found ourselves down a couple baskets. The second half was a different story. We held them to 23 points total in the second half. Our defense really stepped up which allowed us to make our comeback and eventually win the game. We had 4 guys scoring in double figures. Yannick Bokolo and Jeff Greer both had 11 points, Mo Sene had 15 points. I had 17 points (4-9 2FG, 0-1 3FG, 9-10 FT) 5 assists, and 1 rebound. We are currently 1st in our group for the EuroChallenge with a record of 2-0. We play tomorrow night again at home vs a team from Latvia.

On Saturday we had a league game on the road in Cholet. I am going to try to keep this as short as possible, because it was the most frustrating game I have ever played in. I have NEVER seen a game refereed so poorly in my life. It is going to be to hard to explain all the details that went on during the game, but basically I fouled out while only playing 15 minutes. Every time I stepped on the floor the whistle would be blowing and they would be giving me a foul. I ended with 5 points (2-4 2FG, 1-2 FT) and 5 fouls in 15 minutes of action. It was a complete joke! We had 3 guys in double figures. Yannick had 11, Cyril had 10 and Juby Johnson had 15. We were down by one with 10 seconds to go and Juby had a shot for the win but it rattled out and we ended up losing 69-68. Thats all I can write about this game because even as I am writing this little paragraph I am getting heated and I have a little sweat forming on my forehead. Our record stands at 10-6 in league and we are currently in 5th place.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Monday back home. Quick shout out to the Bison for getting that 2OT win on Saturday night. Tveidt scoring with a last second alley-oop lay up, so congrats to the Bison. Take care and God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Great Win

Good afternoon everyone! Friday night we played against Limoges and we came away with a 87-73 victory. Limoges has the top scorer in the league and they are capable of winning any game they play so it was nice to get a home win. Limoges played zone defense the entire game. They actually played a Box-in-one on me. A box-in-one is when they have a player face guard me everywhere I go on the court and deny me the ball. Basically its a defense to try and keep the ball out of my hands as much as possible. I must admit I would have never thought that a professional team would play box-in-one, usually you see that type of defense at the high school level. But, in the end it worked out best for us and we got a great win. We had 3 guys score in double figures. Juby Johnson had a great game with 24 points. Yannick and Cyril chipped in with 19 points and 12 points. I had 9 points (2-6 2FG, 1-5 3FG, 2-2 FT), 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1 turnover. Overall it was a great win for us and it puts us at 10-5 in the league now and currently still in 5th place.

We have a EuroChallenge game coming up on Tuesday in Portugal and then a French League game on the road in Cholet. It will be another big week for us and as always looking forward to playing a couple games a week! Hope everyone is doing well back home, we are thinking about you all! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

EuroChallenge Win

How is everyone doing this Thursday afternoon? Things are going pretty well over here in France. It is cloudy this afternoon however I would take that over the weather that people are getting back home right now. On Tuesday night we played a team from Sweden in the EuroChallenge Top 16. We came away with a 75-65 win. The Sweden team played really well in the first half and ended up scoring 47 points. We turned our defense on in the 2nd half and held them to 18 points. It was a nice win for us at home before we play again tomorrow night vs Limoges. We had 3 guys scoring in double digits. Cyril played well with a double double; 15 points and 12 rebounds. Yannick Bokolo had 10 points. I had 23 points (8-12 2FG, 1-3 3FG, 4-6 FT) 7 rebounds, 4 assists. I also had 5 turnovers that I wasn't very happy about. It was a good first win for us in this round of the EuroChallenge. Now we have been focusing on our game tomorrow night. As I stated before we are playing Limoges who is a very good team. They have a number of different guys that can score the ball and they play well together. It is going to be a tough and exciting game. My agent Brad Ames will be coming to check out the big city of Gravelines (joke!) and watching us play so that is another perk for the game on Friday.

I hope that everyone is staying warm back home. Shout out to my sister who broke her foot a couple weeks ago. Get better, we are thinking about you, love ya! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Winning way

Good morning! We had a game on Friday night down in Hyeres-Toulon and came away with a big road win. Toulon was one game behind us in the standings so it was great to get a win and get a little bit of separation. It was a great game defensively for us which allowed us to come away with a 91-68 win. We had 4 guys in double figures. Juby Johnson and Yannick Bokolo both had 18 points, Cyril had 12 points. I had 21 points (3-4 2FG, 3-4 3FG, 6-6 FT), 2 rebounds and 8 assists. I was impressed with our defense because Toulon is a team that likes to outscore their opponents and they have the players that can put up big numbers. Our record stands at 9-5 in league and currently in 5th place.

This week we have a EuroChallenge game on Tuesday and a French League game on Saturday. We are back to playing 2 games a week for the moment. I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday. God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Loss to Le Mans

Good evening! We had a French League home game on Saturday and suffered a defeat by Le Mans 86-91. It was a rough game for us defensively. We found ourselves making rotation errors and giving the other team some open shots which they made us pay. The entire game it was back and forth with neither team extending the lead by more than double digits. We had 3 guys scoring in double figures. Yannick Bokolo had 17 points and Ruby Jomby had 10 points. I had a double double with 26 points (5-8 2FG, 4-5 3FG, 4-5 FT), 11 assists, and 2 rebounds. It was a frustrating game defensively letting Le Mans score 91 points after last weekends performance by us when we held Paris to just 55 points. We have to get back on the defensive track and play well because on Friday we play a high powered offensive team in Hyeres-Toulon. I will keep you updated and let you know how it goes.

Congrats to the Bison Mens Bball team in getting 2 big conference wins at home this past weekend. I ask that you say some prayers for the victims families down in the Arizona shootings. What a horrible event that took place and there are people that definitely need your prayers. Well, I hear my name being called from the kitchen so it must be time to eat a wonderfully cooked meal by my fiance :):)!! I hope you all have a splendid day! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Nice Road Win

Last night we played down in Paris and we came away with a nice road win, winning 76-55. It was a close game throughout the 1st half, we found ourselves down by 1 at half. In the 2nd half our defense really put on the pressure forcing Paris to turn the ball over and allowing us to get easy baskets in transition. It was nice to see our defense hitting on all cylinders. Our record stands at 8-4 in the league. We had 4 guys in double figures last night. Yannick and Cyril both had 10 points, Jeff Greer had 16 points. I ended with 18 points (8-13 2FG, 0-1 3FG, 2-2 FT), 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. I have to say thanks to our fans who traveled down to Paris to support us. It was great seeing you fans in the stands! Come support us Saturday when we play Le Mans. As I just stated our next home game is vs Le Mans, it should be another great game. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Take care and God Bless (Joshua 1:9)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!! It has been pretty hectic over here France between traveling, practice, All-Star game, and traveling some more. I will give you a little insight on what has been going on lately. So AJ and I went back to the USA for 4 days during Christmas break. It was a short break however it was well worth it. We went to AJ's parents house and my family came up and visited and we all celebrated a wonderful Christmas together in Fargo. Definitely thankful for the wonderful families we have! After Christmas we boarded a plane back to Paris where we met Dimer (Mike Nelson) and Shan (Shannon) and we all took a train back to Gravelines. Dimer was also on break from his team in Switzerland and he celebrated Christmas in Paris so it was a perfect opportunity for us to get together for a few days. They stayed with us for two days up in Gravelines, and during that time I had practice both days and then I had to head back down to Paris for the All-Star game. So we all went down to Paris where us 4 went out to eat one night and enjoyed each others company. On Dec. 30th I was part of the 2010 All-Star game where the USA (foreigners) beat France. I had 7 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals in the game. They had a dunk contest and a 3 point contest during the all-star game as well. It was great opportunity to put on a show for the fans. Immediately after the game I had to go back to Gravelines with AJ because we had practice at 10am the next day. Unfortunately we didn't get back to Gravelines until 4am so the next day I was pretty tired. We had practice the next day (Dec. 31st) and then on Saturday, Jan 1st our team traveled back to Paris because TODAY (Jan. 2nd) we are playing Paris. WOW!!! and that is my hectic week in a nut shell. So currently I am sitting in a hotel room in Paris waiting to go to our game at 5pm. It should be a great game tonight and hopefully we can come out with a win. We are currently 7-4 in league games and sitting in 5th place.

I also want to mention that we made it to the Top 16 in EuroChallenge. We won't play a game for a couple more weeks, however it is nice knowing that we will be playing twice a week again in the near future. Its time for me to get some lunch before the game. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Shout out to Dimer and Shan: thanks for visiting us, we had a great time and hopefully we can make something happen again at the end of the year! God Bless (Joshua 1:9)