Wellington was a very good town to us off the floor. It was probably the most spiritually fulfilling portion of the trip. And for a stretch it was our best game of basketball. The scoreboard had the same result against the pros - but we outplayed the Breakers for 2 and 1/2 quarters, it just wasn't enough to bring home the victory.
We started the game in the hole again. After our best walk through, and our most complete pre-game preparation we came out slow which surprised the coaches. The locker room was as unified and as ready to play as it had ever been, and the stats from our second game against the pro's let us know that we could win. Five minutes into the game Coach Mo made a five-for-five substitution and Bryan, Devin, Gideon, Cade and BJ went on a terror. It was the best five minutes of basketball that we played on the tour. For the first time we finished the first quarter with a lead and everything was clicking.
By half time we were down by a couple, but the momentum of the game was still in our favor. We had another great testimony at half time, and this time the Breakers were on the floor to hear it. That lead to some pretty amazing things after the game and we were thankful for the way God moved during half time.
The second half started with Norris, David, Jeremiah, Jack and Bryan playing very good basketball. We had a number of opportunities to stretch the game to 5 or 6, but well into the third quarter we were still up by 1. That was the deepest into the game that we had been with both the lead and the momentum. The Breakers called a time out, made an adjustment on defense, and came out ready to hurt us on the boards, and those three things shifted the game into their favor. By the fourth quarter we were in a position where we had to pressure the ball and gamble and the Breakers were just too mature and shot the ball too well down the stretch.
The boys were discouraged in the locker room, but Coach Mo painted the bigger picture of what was going on in them and on the tour well and the boys faithfully went out and shared their testimony cards and their lives with the fans after the game. Their class, love and faith were evident.
The Breakers haven't given us the stats for these games like they did the first two, but we will have the film and we can get you exact stats at the end of the tour. Players, parents and coaches should be able to get that with films when the boys get home.
Some spiritual highlights from today was seeing Coach Peace at work with the mentally and physically challenged at our Special Olympic camp. If that didn't melt your heart nothing would. We also had a great post dinner where the coaches commented on the tour, and it was good for us to see the Breakers coach compliment us with such meaning and thankfulness.
The other highlight from today was the team time that we had with four of the Breakers. We invited them to a team time after the game and four came. Through a series of conversations and invitations we ended up outside a sports bar with four of the guys having a team time with Bibles, prayer and sharing on a pretty deep level with John and Mo leading the way. Our guys felt so affirmed by the Breakers reaction to them and their faith, and it gave us a picture of what was going on through our time there that we didn't even know about until that night. We praise the Lord for it.