Written By Shane Skelly
Today we woke up at 7 a.m. to another wonderful breakfast provided to us by Villa Florencia. After everyone was all packed up, we began our journey to the Caribbean. Before hitting the open road though, our tour guide Tom suprised us by stopping at the Raulings factory in downtown Turrialba. This factory produces all of the baseballs that are used for the MLB. After taking a team photo we then stopped at Maxi Palí, which is their version of Giant Eagle, for some snacks before hitting the open road. On the way, Tom bought us some mamonchinos (which is a red furry fruit that you have to bite open then eat the inside without eating the seed). The exotic fruit turned out to be delicious with the taste of a mixture between a pear and a grape.
Arriving on the coast we headed south to our next planned adventure, zip lining. With half the team being terrified of heights, there were plenty of laughs to be shared. After zip lining, we were back on the road and heading north for Limón in search of our next victory.
Limón was an entirely different culture. Having a Caribbean influence seemed to make everything different, from the buildings to the people. Before our game we did some shopping on a street by the port of Limón. Most of the team came away with either a flag of Costa Rica or a jersey of the most famous Costa Rican soccer team. Our pregame meal was at a restaurant called Reina's, which was right on the beach.
Tip-off was at 7 p.m. against team Limón, who finished 6th in the top Costa Rican division last season. It turned out to be one of the most unique gyms we have ever played in. They had an announcer that was nothing less than eccentric. The first half we came out pretty sloppy and were struggling with their size and physicality. In the second half we made some adjustments and were ready to play Behrend basketball. Rising junior Keith Wallace created two steals which lead to Behrend scoring on their first four possessions of the half. We continued to push the pace and get easy layups, creating a twenty point lead by the end of the third. The fourth quarter was more or of the same which resulted in an 82-54 victory. Zane Hackett had 24 points. While Nick Delisio added 20 points, shooting 4-for-8 from three-point range. Keith Wallace was also in double figures with 13. The teams shot 43% from the field and only committed eight turnovers.
After the game, we headed north to hotel Almonds and Corals which is right on the Caribbean coast. We will need our rest tonight because tomorrow is going to be another adventure packed day here in Costa Rica.
