Aug 13, 2013
Day Three Photo Gallery
Commodores close out Athens visit with 73-57 win
The second game in two nights against French Division I all-stars went Vanderbilt’s way thanks to a 19-point effort from Eric McClellan.
Sophomore point guard Eric McClellan scored 19 points to pace four Vanderbilt players in double figures in leading the Commodores to a 73-57 win over the French Division I All-Stars Tuesday night in Athens. McClellan, playing in his second contest as a Commodore after transferring from Tulsa, was a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe in the game.
Special thanks to Anna Cage for shooting this video!
Senior Kyle Fuller added 11 points, with junior Dai-Jon Parker and freshman Damian Jones each pitching in 10 points apiece. Junior James Siakam led the team on the glass with eight rebounds.
The Commodores led for most of the contest, slowly pulled away in the second quarter and kept the French team at bay for the night.
The game concluded the second game of four on the 10-day trip, and it was the last night for the team in Athens before heading to Delphi Wednesday and spending the night in Nefpaktos, which is a 1,000-year old harbor on the western coast of Greece. It is also the team’s last game until a pair of games Saturday and Sunday in Rome.
In the meantime, the travel party will see Delphi and Olympia in Greece, take an overnight ferry to Italy on Thursday night, and then visit Pompeii and Sorrento before spending the last three nights of the tour in Rome.
A recap of Tuesday’s festivities
The team, coaches, and support staff loaded the bus and headed to the Aegean Sea for a couple of hours at the beach in the morning. We had been told by Rob the Tour Guide that there was going to be a bouncy castle (do it in your best English accent – it’s fun), and most of us were pretty excited to relax and visit a body of water that is known around the world and quite popular with visitors and Athens natives alike.
Of course, the Aegean Sea was named after someone who perished in the sea, this time it was King Aegea. He drowned himself in the sea after thinking that his son Theseus (who later was known as the founder of Athenian institutions and a King of Greece) had been killed by the Minotaur, a sea monster.
According to Wikipedia:
Theseus departed for Crete. Upon his departure, Aegeus told him to put up white sails when returning if he was successful in killing the Minotaur. However, when Theseus returned, he forgot these instructions. When Aegeus saw the black sails coming into Athens, he jumped into the sea and drowned, mistaken in his belief that his son had been slain. Henceforth, this sea was known as the Aegean Sea.
We saw no Minotaurs on Tuesday, but we did see a glorious structure coming from the sea when we arrived, and that was the bouncy castle. Hours of good fun ensued that involved climbing these structures, running across narrow strips of the castle to get from one side to the other (like Wipeout), jumping and sliding off, and just enjoying each other’s company in the water. A good time was had by all.
When we returned to the hotel, the party did one of two things – catch up on some much-needed sleep, or visit nearby cafes and restaurants. I chose the latter, and had a wonderful Frappe coffee drink, a greek salad, and a Greek style pizza.
Because the climate is so nice, and so dry and breezy, you’ll see a ton of these cafes all around Athens. In fact, most of these restaurants don’t even open up the inside – there is enough seating outside to accommodate all of their customers. And on the way home from the game, we passed a good number of these cafes, and most of them were slammed with patrons enjoying their food and company. It’s an enjoyable site to see.
Notes from the Day
The game Tuesday was played in Athens, compared to Loutraki Monday. The change saved us about 2 and half hours of drive time.
Not as many pictures today unfortunately because we were all in the water on the bouncy castle. Sorry.
Been promised by Rob the Tour Guide that Delphi is a wonderful place and will provide for some awesome photo ops. So, we’ll probably make up for the lack of pictures today with overload Wednesday.
On Wednesday, guard Carter Josephs will write the blog and give his impressions of the game Tuesday night and the trip to Delphi. I’m looking forward to that.
That’s it from Athens in our final night in this fine city. Until next time, Antio!
