Men's Basketball Blog: Day Two and Game One in Costa Rica

Written by Dan Kress and Mike Knoll

The morning started off with a breakfast served by the hotel followed by a group picture with the second tallest volcano called Turriabla.  We took a half hour ride to the river to go white water rafting on the Pacuare River.  Five of us in a raft communicated and paddled down roughly 19 miles worth of rapids.  We worked together to get down the river, but most everyone took turns falling off the rafts, Coach Niland being the first in the water on the day. During lunch Keith was the only one to get a fish to shore with his bare hands, and Coach Thorsen saved the day by getting the fish back to water.

We ran a basketball clinic for younger kids in the Sitio de Mata area, where we showed the kids different drills and games they could practice.  Nick Delisio and Keith Wallace displayed some ball handling skills and Zane showed the kids a couple nice dunks.  We gave away Penn State Behrend water bottles and basketballs to the kids and met one of the players that we would be playing at the game later on that night.  After the clinic we had dinner at one of the local restaurants of the Sitio de Mata area.

The game that night was in a nearby city called Turriabla. The gym had a fun atmosphere to play in with some of the children from the clinic coming to support us by waving their American flag.  The team rose to the challenge by defeating Turrialba, 90-65.  Rising senior guard Casey Courneen led the team with 21 points, shooting 6-for-11 from behind the arc.  The other four starters for the Behrend Lions, Nick Delisio, Keith Wallace, Shane Skelly, and Zane Hackett, all scored in double digits as well.  Altogether, Behrend shot 50% (29-for-58) from the field, 46% (11-for-24) from the three-point line, and 81% (21-for-26) from the free-throw line to secure the win.

Behrend will look to continue their hot shooting on Tuesday night in their second game of the trip.