Oct. 13, 2003
LONDON, ENGLAND-- The Monarch cagers succesfully completed their tour of London bywinning two more games on Monday, and going 4-0 on the trip. ODU defeated London United,89-82 and Thames Valley, 84-73.
Senior John Waller (Richmond, VA.) led the Monarchs with 27 points in game two, whilesophomore guard Isaiah Hunter scored 20 points in game one and 18 in game two. Hunter wasa combined 14-28 from the floor for the day.
IN GAME ONE VS LONDON UNITED ODU put four players in double figures. Joining Hunter was John Wallerwith 14 points and four steals, Alex Loughton (Perth,Australia) with 13 points and eight rebounds, and freshman Valdas Vasylius (Klaipeda, Lithuania) with 14 points and ten rebounds.ODU shot a blistering .547 (23-42) from the floor in the first half and finished the gameat .479(35-73). ODU also outrebounded London United, 47-27. Steve Veer led London with 19 points.
IN GAME TWO VS. THAMES VALLEY Freshman Arnaud Dahi's (Ivory Coast) tip and JohnWaller's trey late in the fourth quarter helped lift the Monarchs to victory. With ODU up73-71 with less than two minutes remaining, Dahi tipped in a missed shot to put ODU upfour, then after a steal, John Waller nailed a trey to help put the game out of reach.
Waller not only scored 27 points, he also hauled in nine rebounds. Valdas Vasyliusadded 16 points and six rebounds. Dahi finished with seven rebounds as well.The Monarchs outrebounded Thames, 52-46 and held former League MVP Tony Holley (Troy State)tojust seven points and eight rebounds. Michael New, a New Mexico State alumni led Thameswith 16 points, followed by Greg Meldrum with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Blaine Taylor QUOTES"The tour was an enriching experience for us in many ways. Our young squad isbeginning to bond together. The trip to London is something the kids will alwaysremember.
I thought we met every challenge, and grew as a team through the four games, culminatingwith probably our best performance against the best team at the end of the tour.
I was very pleased with the various timely contributions we got from different kids.We rebounded very well, and at times played solid defense. In the last game we onlycommitted ten turnovers.
It is so very early with practice starting back up on Oct. 18 to really put this trip inperspective, but our experiences on this trip will be worth its weight in gold."
SCORING SUMMARY(points)Game one: ODU- Hunter 20, Williamson 7, Waller 14, Lidonde 6, Dahi 6, Loughton 13,Vasylius 14, Mrksic 9. ODU 24-28-12-25=89London United: Rhatain 0, Veer 19, Oguntini 17, Atukus 3, Deppisch 10,James 2, Searan 10, Munimi 15, London 17-16-28-21=82
GAME TWOODU- Hunter 18, Williamson 7, Waller 27, Lidonde 2, Drewry 0,Nance 0, Dahi 5, Loughton 5, Vasylius 16, Mrksic 4. ODU- 23-20-15-16=84THAMES - Meldrum 15, James 14, Gilder 2, Moore 13, Bailey 6, New 16,Holley 7. Thames - 18-15-22-18=73.
CAGE NOTES: Between games, the Monarchs went by Windsor Castle.The Blue-White exhibition game is Oct. 25.