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Aug. 22, 2000
OOSTENDE, BELGIUM – The University of Virginia men’s basketball team lost to SunAir Osfende 96-77 on Tuesday (August 22). The Cavaliers had won the first three games of their European tour before losing Tuesday’s game. UVa was tied with SunAir Osfende 23-23 after one quarter of play and were down 48-38 at the half.
Adam Hall (Katy, Texas) had a tremendous game for Virginia as he registered a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Travis Watson (Brookneal, Va.) also recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Keith Friel (Durham, N.H.) added 16 points, while Chris Williams (Birmingham, Ala.) rounded out the Cavaliers’ double figure scorers with 14 points. Stephane Dondon (Toulouse, France) grabbed 10 rebounds. Roger Mason (Silver Spring, Md.) did not play in the game due to a slightly sprained ankle. It will be a game-time decision as to whether he plays in UVa’s fifth game of the tour on Wednesday evening.
“We don’t feel the score was indicative of how we played tonight,” said assistant coach Tom Herrion. “The team played with a lot of character under difficult circumstances. We played very, very hard and we are proud of their effort. It was a great atmosphere and a tremendous learning experience and we will be able to take a lot of positive things from this game.
“SunAir Osfende is a tremendous pro team that will play in the Super League this year, which is one of the elite European pro leagues. The better team won tonight. They had three American professionals and some other European professionals on the team. Playing our fourth game in four nights hurt us because we lost our legs near the end of the game. Playing without Roger Mason, who is one of our key players, hurt us as well.”
Virginia plays for the fifth consecutive night on Wednesday (August 23) when they take on Lummen BBC in Bocholt, Belgium.