Carolina, Puerto Rico – The team had been here before, confronted with a strong headwind and finding the power to push through.
Faced with adversity on the floor, Indiana excelled again.
De Hoosiers organized another 20-Plus-Point-Comeback to eliminate the Serbian professional team Mega Superbet for the second time in three days, so that an exciting 81-80 victory was obtained on Coliseo Guillermo Angulo on Monday.
Their resilience reached further than the court, fed by Off-Court activities such as a kayak trip that the team forced to fight strong wind to return to the coast.
“We have done many different activities that boys have brought in uncomfortable situations,” said coach Darian Devries. “Many boys have never kayak before. Many guys are afraid of sharks, and they still jumped in the water.”
Similar to the Saturday evening match, Indiana was early in the beginning and for the most part without an answer.
After scoring the opening of the game, the attack of Indiana was sleeping. As a result, Mega Superbet took an impressive 16-point lead in the opening minutes of the game.
Although Indiana had erased a shortage of 23 points less than 40 hours earlier, it seemed out of reach this time. De Hoosiers seemed destined to leave Puerto Rico with a 2-1 record.
Despite the fact that they are left with no less than 22 in the second quarter, the intensity of Indiana did not stagger again. De Hoosiers still wanted to come back in the same way as on Saturday, as a team.
Despite the cutting of the shortage to six in the second quarter, Indiana entered the dressing room to follow at 8 pm at the break.
“You really don’t know who is next to you until adversity strikes,” said Senior Guard Lamar Wilkerson. “As soon as adversity strikes, everyone shows the real colors.”
Wilkerson and colleague Senior Tucker Devries were scoreless in the first half, but led the second half. The two combined for 30 of the 51 second half of the team.
Despite the same result as Saturday’s game, Indiana Mega Superbet had to overcome and offer more resistance on Monday.
When Wilkerson led a bounce pass to Senior attacker Bailey for a SLAM with two hands with six seconds, Indiana took his first lead in 2-0.
As time went on and the shot of Mega Superbet short, the Indiana Bank rushed into the floor. It was the characteristic of a team that had overcome obstacles, possession by possession, as a united group.
“We learned a lot of these last two games,” said Devries. “I love the fact that we held it up until we found a small crack and could take advantage of it.”
The primary goal of this trip was not necessarily about basketball. Because of the journey, Devries was assigned 10 extra summer exercises with his team. These practices were crucial for a team of new faces, giving coaches extra time to teach and implement their system.
The team -binding experiences were just as useful as the practices.
Indiana participated in various group activities during the entire one -week trip. From trying of local food to playing beach volleyball and snorkeling, the program offered everyone opportunities to mesh themselves in a different environment.
“I think they came here very positively,” said Devries. “You can see them grow together and connect them in the course of this week.”
The growth of the team, promoted through those off-court excursions, translated into success on the field during their three games.
Finding the will to win in an exhibition game on a Monday morning was not easy. The adjustments and ability of Indiana to restore a comeback raised confidence in the young team.
The journey has been completed, but the lessons that have been learned on and next to the court will leave a lasting impact. For a program full of new faces it was a completely positive experience.
“This was a great journey for us,” said Devries. “Now we can go back home, we take a few weeks off. As a staff we have a great film, a number of great data to work with while we are now starting with the autumn training and finally preparing for our season.”
Some players still leave San Juan afraid of sharks. But when there was blood in the water, Indiana became the sharks and grabbed the moment to escape with a heavily fought victory.
“Counter situation put us in our mouths twice this week and we responded in the right way,” said Wilkerson. “It is not much better than that.”
See more: Media, 2025 Puerto Rico Trip
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