Crikey! Marist College boys make an impact in US
Kittitas’ Justin Hudson (2) looks to pass the ball sideways against Marist College with T J Alder (25) in support for Marists. Kittitas won 79-38. Photo Jake Green, Daily Record.
A team from Marist College is currently touring parts of the United States, and recently made the pages of the Ellensburg Daily Record. The following story is reproduced here with kind permission of the Ellensburg Daily Record and its author, sports editor LUKE OLSON. Originally published as “Crikey! Kittitas boys host traveling team from Australia.”
Before senior Bailey Gibson could head out of the Kittitas High School gymnasium, his father called him over to introduce him to two of the opposing players the Coyotes boys basketball team just faced.
The two were from Marist College, an Australian Travel Team — and the Gibsons were the host family for these boys.
“Both the guys I guarded the whole game too,” said Gibson chuckling.
On Thursday night, Kittitas hosted Marist, a Catholic school from years 4-12 in Canberra, Australia. Their basketball tour began the day after Christmas, flying into San Francisco, then going north to Portland and Seattle (Lake Stevens and Bellingham high schools) for a couple games each. Part of their nine-game slate was to stop in Kittitas before it travels to Spokane Friday and soon afterwards make their way back to south east Australia.
Every couple years, Marist gets an opportunity to summon this memorable trip. Off the court, it visited the Space Needle, Museum of Pop Culture and a few Portland Trailblazers games.
“Their loving it. They love it, enjoy it, everyone’s being very nice — the cities great,” said Richard Aitchison, one of the coaches of Marist.
It was a sanctioned event through the WIAA and programs are allowed to pick up an extra game once every three years to play international teams. Head coach Tim Ravet was looking to add one more matchup on top of their 20-game season.
Kittitas’ Brock Ravet (32) takes the ball downcourt during the game against Marist College with Jadon Semenas in support in Jacob Saunders (11) left of screen. Photo: Jake Green, Daily Record.
Part of the deal — as for every other school — was Kittitas parents have to house the 30 kids and five coaches for the night, and making some new “mates” along with it.
“It’s a good experience for both teams,” Tim said. “Have a friendship and build something after this — they are going to hang out for the night. Build something that’s overseas and if you ever get over there, it could be a friendship for life, so it’s pretty cool.”
As for the game, the Coyotes were keen and nonpareil, defeating the Aussies, 79-38. Senior Brock Ravet notched 27 points on seven 3-pointers. Gibson had 14 points and senior Martin Arreola tallied 13.
Not even five minutes into the contest, Kittitas was leading 17-0. After the first quarter concluded, it led 26-3.
The Aussies were awed more than anything with the quickness the ‘Yotes presented — no surprise to the folks of Kittitas County.
“Great playing against new competition compared to Canberra, back home,” said Daniel Busing of Marist, who had 16 points. “A lot better competition, a lot more intense, better atmosphere — so much fun.”
Second half, ‘Straya, found some tempo in the fourth quarter, and Kittitas’ reserves got some minutes as well.
“When you’re playing as well as we played, it was more about not taking some fast breaks and really working on what we need to work on is what I treated it like … basically treating it like a scrimmage the last two quarters,” Tim said.
Marist was without Alex Toohey, a 14-year old who was selected to the national under-15s side. He is the youngest player ever to represent his country, but unfortunately broke his arm two weeks before their United States pilgrimage.
NBA player Patty Mills had a short stint in high school at Marist College, as he was born in Canberra. Since 2012, he has played for the San Antonio Spurs.
Source: Ellensburg Daily Record