Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Nice home win

Defense
Good afternoon!  Its a beautiful 70 degree day here in Ankara, Turkey!  I just got back from our morning practice and thought it would be great to give you all an update about our last game.  We played at home on Saturday and won 91-73.  We played a great game from the start to the finish.  Right off the bat we started up 12-0.  We maintained about a 10 point lead throughout the first quarter and half of the second quarter.  However, the team we were playing came back and were only down 4 points at halftime.  Our opponent is a team that if they get hot and start shooting the ball well they can be dangerous and thats exactly what happened in the second quarter.  At half time we made some adjustments and increased the lead gradually throughout the 2nd half and ended up winning by 18.

KP (Kirk Penney) and I with the double team
As a team we played a great game.  We executed offensively and defensively just the way we prepared.  It was a great game for us to bounce back with after a heart breaking loss the previous weekend.  We had 3 guys in double figures.  Jovo lead all scorers with 26 points (11-16 2fg, 4-4 ft), 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Kirk Penney had 23 points (3-4 2fg, 5-7 3fg, 2-2 ft), 1 rebound, 2 assists.  Vanja (4 man) had 13 points (2-5 2fg, 2-4 3fg, 3-3 ft), 5 rebounds, 1 assist.  I ended the game with 8 points (3-4 2fg, 0-3 3fg, 2-2 ft), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.  Also, our other 4 man Nedim (who is leading the league in rebounds) had 8 points (3-6 2fg, 1-5 ft), 10 rebounds, and 2 assists.  Like I said before it was a solid game from our team and I was really happy with the win.  Our next oppenent is Banvit on the road.  We lost by 18 to them in a pre-season game.  They are a very talented team with a solid bench.  It will be another tough test for us on the road.  I am already looking forward to the game and it is 4 days away :)!

KP displaying his awesome triple threat haha!
Other than that not much exciting news.  I have been trying to stay in the Bible and read scripture on a daily basis and put what I read into my life.  My wife and I started a new TV series "Homeland" a couple days ago.  We have now already completed the first season because it is AMAZING!  I highly suggest it if you are looking at finding a new show.  Also, my wife updated her website about Turkish fashion if you are interested in checking it out her website is www.amandamosiac.com.  What else... AJ got offered to be a photographer for an organization here in Turkey.  I thought that was pretty neat and I am excited for her to start.  Well, I need to grab some food and head back to our 2nd practice of the day.  I hope that you are all doing well.  Pray for those people on the east coast who are affected by the hurricane.  Have a blessed and amazing day.  Impact someone's life today :)!  God Bless.. John 6:27

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Unbelievable game

Good afternoon from Ankara, Turkey!  I hope you all are having a blessed day.  I am finally getting the opportunity to update you about our last game.  As you know we played arguably the top team in Turkey Fenebache Ulker last Sunday and lost 79-77 (their starting PG was hurt).  It was an unbelievable game and something that I have never been a part of before.  We basically controlled the whole game until the last 40 seconds.  We were up 2 points with 40 seconds to go inbounding the ball after they had just scored.  We couldn't make an inbound pass and had a turnover.  They make a 3 pointer the next possison to go up 1.  The next possession we miss.  We foul and they make 2 more FT putting them up 3 points.  They foul us and put us on the line and we make 1-2 FT, we are down 2 points.  Next possession we foul with 3 seconds to go.  Their player misses the first FT then misses the second FT.  We get the rebound take a couple dribbles and heave a 3/4 court shot and miss, game over.  Lost by 2 points.  It was an unreal ending to the game.  The last 40 seconds we did everything wrong in order to lose that game.  But, that is part of playing the whole 40 min.  I am proud of how are team played that game and am looking forward to getting on the court with them on Saturday.

Pick n roll defense 
Some interesting stats about the game.  They shot 40 FT compared to our 20 FT.  We out rebounded them 39 to 29.  We had 19 assists to their 7 assists.  We shot a better percentage from 2pt and 3pt.  We had 17 turnovers to their 9.  If you take a look at the stat sheet we played a great all around game.  A couple of mistakes cost us the game down the stretch.  It was a great effort on our part and we need to bounce back for this Saturday.  The reason why I stated I have never been a part of a game like this is because we basically needed to inbound the ball 1 last time and we would have had a great chance to win!  It was crazy.  Our record stands at 1-1.  That game is over now and our team is doing a great job of preparing for our up coming game.  We play this Saturday at home vs. Royal Hali Gaziantep BŞB.  They are a team that is 0-2, however they have talented players and they are extremely hungry for a win.  It will be a tough game for us and we need to be prepared to play ALL 40 min.

Individually we had solid performances from a number of our guys.  Jovo lead the way with 22 points (8-12 2fg, 0-1 3fg, 6-9 ft), 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.  Kirk Penney had 18 points (7-8 2fg, 1-4 3fg, 1-3 ft), 4 rebounds, and 2 assists.  Nedim had a great double double, 11 points (4-11 2fg, 3-4 ft), 16 rebounds, and 2 assists.  I had 15 points (3-7 2fg, 2-3 3fg, 3-4 ft), 2 rebounds, and 9 assists.

Not much else new here in Turkey.  We went out to eat for our teammates wife's birthday to a nice fish restaurant last night.  It was delicious!  HUGE S/O to Bryn Woodside and her AL Tiger Volleyball team for winning their first section game.  I can't remember the last time the Tiger VB won a section game.  Big Congrats to them!  Also, if you want to check out some photos of our new apartment you can check out my wife's website www.amandamosaic.com, she has a post about our apartment with pictures.  You all need to keep me updated on current events and what's going on back home via Twitter @benwoodside or Facebook!  Only so many times I can check the news online :)!  I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day.  Its a great day to give someone a compliment, make them smile, and don't expect anything in return :)!  God Bless... John 3:16  




Monday, October 15, 2012

1-0

Good evening from Turkey!  I am sorry that I have been a bit late in updating my blog recently.  We have had a busy week.  We are all moved into our new apt!  We are extremely happy and excited with our new spot.  Thanks again to the coaches, staff, and management for allowing us to get into the new apt.  We have been living here for 5 days now and we just received internet today.  Hence, why I have been absent from blogging.  I will be posting pictures of our new place on here soon.

Shot clock running down
We had our first Turkish league game on Saturday here in Ankara.  It was a great game and I am thankful and blessed that we came away with a victory.  I was extremely excited to get the season underway and it feels good to start the season off with a W.  We played a good Tofas team and ended up winning 81-72.  It was a wonderful team effort on our part.  We had four guys in double figures.  Kirk Penney had 15 points (4-6 2fg, 1-5 3fg, 4-5 ft) 5 rebounds, 4 assists.  Jovo (our 5 man) and Nedim (one of our 4 men) both had 14 points.  (4-11 2fg, 6-7 ft), 6 assists, 3 rebounds for Jovo.  (6-9 2fg, 2-4 ft), 11 rebounds for Nedim.  I had 12 points (2-4 2fg, 2-4 3fg, 2-4 ft), 5 assists, 5 rebounds.  I apologize for boggling your mind with some many numbers ha, but I told you I would be more specific when the regular season starts :).  We had a number of other guys make key plays down the stretch of the game as well.  As I said before it was a great team effort and win.  Our next opponent is Fenerbahce Ulker who is widely considered the favorite in the league.  They are a very deep and talented team.  We play them on  Oct. 22nd at their place.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this year I will only be playing one game per week.  It is a bit of an adjustment for me because previous seasons I have played multiple times per week.  With that being said we are 1-0 heading into our second league game next week.

Transition drive (gotta love the same facial feature
I have had since I started playing haha)
I want to mention that my wife has her own website that she created and I highly suggest you check it out.  It is an amazing and creative website.  Let me tell you it is much more interesting and entertaining then this blog LOL!  The website is www.amandamosaic.com.  That is all the exciting news here in Ankara.  Have a happy and blessed Monday.  Try to make a positive impact on someone's life today.  You will be surprised how great YOU feel afterwards!  God Bless... Philippians 4:13

PS-  If you did indeed donate to my friend Rich on his missionary (check early postings if you don't know what I am talking about) I am grateful and extremely thankful that you helped him out!  Thanks again!


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Qualified for Turkish Cup

Hey everyone!  It is a wonderful brisk morning here in Ankara.  I can definitely tell that fall is right around the corner.  No more days of 95 degree's here.  I think my family could attest to this, we love the fall weather!  Nice and cool :)!

Action shot in Turk Telecom game
This past weekend we were in a tournament to see if we would qualify for the Turkish Cup that is later on in the season.  As you can tell from the title we qualified!  We played 3 games and went 2-1.  Our first game we lost by 19 to a very good Banvit team.  The different in the game was the 3rd quarter.  They outscored us 31-18 in the third.  Otherwise the game was pretty close.  I had 21 points (5-5 2fg, 1-3 3fg, 8-9 ft).  From what I remember, I believe we had two other guys in double figures.  Kirk Penney had 10 and Jovo (our 5 man) had 14.  Our second game we beat Tofas by 19.  They are a solid team and we actually found ourselves down 10 right off the bat.  I unfortunately had 5 fouls in 7 minutes of play.  I laugh about it now but I was upset at the time.  I have never done that in my entire life of basketball!  I would literally go in the game and 10 seconds later the whistle would be blowing and I would have another foul.  But it doesn't matter because our team did a great job coming back in the 2nd half.  It was great to see a lot of guys step up on the defensive end and make a comeback.  Kirk Penney led all scores with 21 points.  There were a number of guys in double figures that game and to be honest I can't remember the exact stats of everyone.  That put our record at 1-1 in the tournament heading into the last day.  For us to qualify we would need to beat Turk Telecom in the last game (who we lost to by 20 earlier in pre-season play).  Again at the beginning of the game we found ourselves down 36-18 in the first quarter.  We mounted a comeback and eventually won a close game 84-82.  It was a great team effort both defensively (minus the 1st quarter) and offensively.  A number of guys had outstanding performances.  One of our 4-men, Nedim did a great job on the glass collecting 12 rebounds (8 defensive, 4 offensive).  We had 3 guys in double figures.  Kirk Penney led the way with 29 points.  Jovo 14 points.  I had 19 points (5-5 2fg, 0-3 3fg 9-9 ft, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal).  It was a great comeback and effort to secure us a spot in the Turkish Cup later in the year.

Our next game is our first official regular season game here in Ankara.  We play Tofas who we just played in the tournament.  It will be a tough game for us since we just beat them the week before.  I am excited and looking forward to getting my 4th year of professional basketball underway.

On some other exciting news, AJ and I will be moving into our new apartment tonight.  We are extremely excited for it.  We are very thankful for the coaches and management at TED for being able to get us into a new apartment.  We can't thank them enough.  So, the rest of the afternoon I will be packing my bags for the move.  Side note,  Tiger Woods is here in Turkey playing in some golf tournament.  So I thought I would hit him up on twitter and see if he wanted to come to Ankara and I would show him around haha.  Unfortunately no returned message :)!  Thats all the exciting news from Ankara, Turkey.  Have a blessed Wednesday!  1 Peter 3:14-18

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Ankara Tournament


Playing some"D"
Good morning!!  How are you doing on this wonderful Tuesday morning?  Things are going well here in Ankara, Turkey.  Recently we had a 4 team tournament here and ended up going 1-1 taking 2nd place.  Our first game was very exciting!  We won in the last possession.  The opposing team had a free throw to go up 1 with 12 seconds to go.  They missed the free throw but got the offensive rebound.  They were running the clock down to the final seconds.  The point guard asked for a high ball screen from there big man.  As he was driving to the basket I tipped the ball from behind him and our big man picked it up and passed it to our 2 guard (Kaya) who was running the floor.  He laid it in with 1 second to go, and thats the game folks!  It was quite the ending to our first game.

Our next game is a completely different story.  We didn't play well at all and ended up losing by 20.  Give credit to the other team they were way more aggressive than us on both ends of the floor.  We got off to an extremely slow start and were down 10 right away.  However coming out of halftime we battled back and ended up going up by 2 points in the 3rd quarter.  We couldn't sustain our intensity and ended up laying an egg and losing.  We definitely learned a lot from that game.  The next few days we watched film and looked at our mistakes as well as the things that we did well.  We are definitely getting more comfortable with each other and understanding the system better.  We will need to buckle down now since our season's first official game is October 13th.
Getting some instructions from Coach

Before our first game on the 13th we have a Turkish Cup qualifying tournament that we play at the end of this week.  These games count (not towards our league games) if we want to play for the Turkish Cup later on in the year.  We are playing 3 games in 3 days out in western Turkey.  If we are 1st or 2nd in our pool we qualify for the Turkish Cup.  Again, these games count but they aren't counted in terms of our league games.  It is kind of confusing but I hope I explained that well enough.

Shot clock running down, getting ready to play some "D"
Otherwise not much else going on here in Turkey.  Aj and I are still waiting on getting into a new apartment building.  We had a teammate Kirk Penney over for dinner the other night.  Grilled some steak and chicken with a side of potatos and peas.  It was delicious and it was great having some company over.  This past weekend we went out to a local cafe for one of Aj's American friends that lives here and celebrated her birthday.  We went to a country restaurant afterwards and that was quite the experience.  The restaurant was filled with people ranging from a Harley bikers to businessmen in there suits.  It was a great experience and Aj and I still laugh about it.  That is all from Ankara, Turkey. Forgot to mention that this Turkish Cup tournament is Friday-Sunday.  I will keep you posted on how it all goes.  Have a wonderful day!  God Bless.. Psalm 118:24

Ps-  If you donated to Rich Bowman I really appreciate it.  It is going to an amazing cause! If you have no clue what I am talking about I ask that you read my previous post.  Thanks again for your help :)