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[AUG. 15, 2005]
Park Ridge, Ill. - The Big Ten Men's
Basketball Foreign Tour team opened their 2005 tour with a 143-117
loss to the Huesca Basketball Club in Spain on Saturday. After
arriving in Barcelona, Spain on Wednesday and three days of
sightseeing for the Big Ten squad, Saturday's game was played in the
Pyrenees Mountains in the town of Jaca - a four-hour bus trip from
the team's hotel. Purdue's Matt Kiefer led the squad in scoring and
rebounding with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Illinois' Brian
Randle tallied 15 points and six rebounds. Michigan's Ron Coleman
(13 points), Illinois' Calvin Brock (12) and Indiana's Marco
Killingsworth (1) also reached double figures in scoring, while all
12 players tallied at least three points in the contest.
After the opening period, the Big Ten squad was down only by one,
33-32. However, Huesca outscored the Big Ten standouts, 43-23, in
the second stanza to take a 76-55 advantage into the locker room.
The team cut the Huesca lead to 14 near the end of the third
quarter; however, thanks in large part to hitting 41 free throws on
the night, the Spanish club team earned the 143-117 victory. Huesca,
who claimed the Spanish third division championship last season,
also showed its long range capabilities by hitting 21 three-pointers
on the evening. The Big Ten contingent resumes competition against
the VIC Barcelona Basketball Club on Monday, August 15. The future
of the Big Ten is on display overseas as seven of the 12 players
have completed two or fewer seasons of college basketball. The
league's last Foreign Tour team in 2004 produced a record of 3-2 to
boast a winning record for the third straight trip (6-0 in 2001, 4-1
in 2002) for the first time since the team's inception in 1991. The
Big Ten had produced back-to-back trips above .500 on two occasions,
from 1991-92 and 1995-96. The conference office has sent teams
overseas in 12 of the last 14 years, compiling an overall record of
49-32.
[Big Ten news release] |
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