The Patagonia Files: 2016 Edition Part One

Thanks to all the support of friends and family, and some help from a few sponsors (XCM Clothing for the uniforms and help getting all of our gear for the tour; Lincoln University for use of their facility for training and the basketball camp; and Amalgamated Food Distributors for the numerous donations of food to help run some of our fundraising efforts), the Canterbury Men’s team was finally on their way to Argentina.

After a long trip from Auckland to Buenos Aires (though nowhere near as long as the travel the team had to go through in 2014!) the team was all settled in at the Dazzler Hotel about 5pm Tuesday. It was also pointed out that we were living the same day twice, on the actual day recognised as groundhog day! (2 February). We went out to find some food, eventually getting to some fast food restaurants we were familiar with from back home, before struggling to get back to the hotel due possibly to some jetlag.

 

GAME ONE

Ramos Lawn Tennis Club was our first hosts on Wednesday night, and interestingly enough had no lawn tennis courts in their club (just clay courts)! Their gym had been newly refurbished, and we were the first competition for their senior men’s team. The crowd that came for the Haka were not disappointed, as what ensued was a back and forth battle, after a slow start for our guys (down 14-22 at the end of one).

We clawed back to level the scores at 44 apiece at half time (mainly due to Oli Davies going en fuego for a while!), and built a seven point lead after three quarters. This wasn’t enough though, as we only managed to add 16 points in the final quarter, while Ramos slowly and surely eradicated our lead, and then took their own with 48 seconds remaining (86-83). Terry Brunel drew up a set inbounds play, and let Marty Davison and Nick Erwood know what to do should the initial look be overplayed. Perfect execution ensued, and Davison drilled a three pointer off an Erwood assist to tie the game. Both teams had chances following this trey, but neither could add to the ledger as the game entered OT.

We jumped out to a 92-86 lead in OT, and with only 2:30 to play our team stopped for an apparent out of bounds call. This gave Ramos the momentum they needed, as they were able to level the score. We had two opportunities to win the game in this stanza, the last being a tip in from Aled Jones that just fell short as time expired.

Despite an early lead in 2OT, a costly inbounds turnover allowed Ramos to score four quick points and level the score. A big three by Lucas Echeverria ended up winning the game – building a 103-99 lead for the home team, which ended up turning into the final margin of 108-103 in favour of Ramos.

After the game, the Ramos team treated us to an excellent meal of pizzas in their club rooms – which was a great experience for all of the team (and Ramos too, whose president said he would love to have us back again for another game, or clinics for the kids there!) Another great by-product of this game was Brent Fisher being anointed “El Gigante” in Ramos’ recap, as well as the Ramos practice jerseys the guys have been wearing durig their downtime.

Standout performers: Oli Davies 23p,5r,4a,4s; James Cawthorn 20p; Brent Fisher 20p,6r; Marty Davison 15p,7r,4a; Nick Erwood 9p,11r,5a,3s; Xavier Shaw 8p,12r,3s

 

GAME TWO

There wasn’t much rest for the guys – back at the hotel about midnight, and on the bus at 8pm for our next game against Estudiantil Porteño at their club facility (which included tennis, swimming, and plenty of kids doing activities). Live streaming was in effect for this game, which had a hiccup towards the end of the game, but was well received thanks to the efforts of Blas Ferrari. The CAEP club elected to play some of their younger players, along with some of their Torneo Federal players, and two older former-stars from the club. Another slow start ensued for us, as we were unable to convert some good looks at the basket. A quick timeout by Coach Brunel was called, but we still faced a nine point deficit after the first quarter. This game then followed a similar pattern to the Ramos game, with us tieing the game up just before the half, and then gradually building a small lead – to which CAEP continually answered to keep the game close.

A Xavier Shaw dunk finished off our scoring in the third quarter – giving us a small 60-57 lead. We turned the clamps on defense on to start the fourth, going on a 12-5 run, which we held the rest of the game, with an Oli Davis triple icing the game 87-77.

Standout performers: Xavier Shaw 19p,9r; Brent Fisher 18p,13r; Oli Davies 17p,5r; James Levings 14p,6r

 

THE ROAD TO THE #COPAPATAGONIA

Friday literally took us on the nine-hour road to Bahia Blanca – the home of the Copa Patagonia Tournament, after an air traffic controller strike a week ago meant the airlines were still working through the backlog of affected passengers, which was now expanded to include our relatively large party. Thanks to the great service from Merito Travel, this was organised without a hitch.

Xavier won the prize for the most comfortable journey, as he stretched out on top of the gear bags in the back of the mini-bus. This trip had a long way between towns (and for the three of us who had spent NZ$7 on cell phone service, this also meant no mobile data coverage either), with there being zero settlements before we got to Bahia for the last ninety minutes of the trip.

After arriving about 7pm, the guys quickly got ready and went to the Press Conference to mark the start of the #CopaPatagonia, where Terry Brunel got featured in the local newspaper

 

GAME THREE

Friday saw the official opening ceremony of the Copa Patagonia, with the HSOB rugby guys winning a tense battle against Club El Nacional (CEN) 12-6 immediately after the anthems were done.

An hour and a half later it was our turn to take on the hosts, with a standing-room only crowd in the building to watch the first of three matches in the 2016 series between Canterbury and CEN.

We started out much better in this game, having a two point lead after the first quarter, as well as half time. We could never shake CEN though, as every time it felt like we had the chance to go on a run and put the game away, the hosts would answer with a big bucket (usually a three – where they shot a scorching 40% from). Once again the game was in the balance at the end of the fourth, when some fantastic execution saw the two man game between Oli Davies and Xavier Shaw get a big dunk, and then Marty Davison find James Cawthorn for a three to give us a small bit of breathing room. Final score 81-76 to Canterbury, and a one game lead in the series.

Standout performers: James Cawthorn 19p,5r; Marty Davison 14p,7a,6r; Xavier Shaw 12p,3bl; Oli Davies 10p; Brent Fisher 10p,13r

 

 

To follow all the action from the Argentina Tour – make sure to like designated facebook page, as well as follow the CBA on twitter – Next up for us is game two against CEN – on Tuesday at 11am (NZ time)