State College, Pa. – August 19, 2005 – Penn State Nittany Lion sophomore forward Brandon Hassell (Farmersville, Ohio) scored nine points as the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Foreign Tour team wrapped up the 13th trip in league history on Thursday with a narrow 87-83 loss against the C.B. Valls Basketball Club in Barcelona, Spain. The conference squad completed the tour with a record of 2-3.
The Big Ten Foreign Tour Team arrived in Spain last week and dropped its first two contests in Barcelona. However, the conference squad bounced back, traveling to Valencia, Spain on August 16 and August 17 to pick up a pair of wins before returning to Barcelona for the tour finale on Thursday.
Against C.B. Valls, the Big Ten squad fell behind in the first period, as the Spanish club held the team to only 15 points for a 27-15 advantage. The visitors responded to narrow the gap to six points at the half (43-37) before falling behind again at the end of the third, 69-56. After C.B. Vails extended its lead to 75-56 early in the final stanza, the conference squad rallied to pull within two points in the final two minutes (85-83). The Tour squad tried twice to tie it, but was unable to convert and fell in the finale, 87-83.
Michigan’s Ron Coleman notched a tour-high 22 points to lead the squad for the first time in scoring, after going six-of-11 from the three-point line. Indiana’s Marco Killingsworth posted a double-double with a personal tour-best 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Minnesota’s Spencer Tollackson chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.
The Hoosiers’ Killingsworth became only the second Indiana player in Tour annals to lead the squad in scoring after tallying double-figures in all five contests to post a team-best 76 points (15.2 ppg). Three other league standouts averaged more than 10 points per game including Michigan’s Coleman (13.0), Illinois’ Brian Randle (10.2) and Minnesota’s Tollackson (10.2). Killingsworth also grabbed a team-leading 37 rebounds (7.4 rpg) while Michigan State’s Goran Suton followed with an average of 7.0 boards per contest, including a tour-best performance of 15 rebounds on August 16.
Hassell ended the tour with a solid 7.4 point per game mark to go along with a 4.6 rebound per contest average, which was third on the team. He played in all five games for the Big Ten.
The conference office has now sent teams overseas in 13 of the last 15 years, compiling an overall record of 51-34 (.600) and a mark of 15-6 (.714) during the last four trips in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.
2005 BIG TEN MEN’S BASKETBALL FOREIGN TOUR SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Aug. 13 L, 117-143 Huesca Basketball Club Jaca, Spain
Aug. 15 L, 104-110 VIC Barcelona Basketball Club Barcelona, Spain
Aug. 16 W, 99-82 Alcora Basketball Club Valencia, Spain
Aug. 17 W, 82-66 Pamesa Valencia Basketball Club Valencia, Spain
Aug. 18 L, 83-87 C.B. Valls Basketball Club Barcelona, Spain
2005 BIG TEN MEN’S BASKETBALL FINAL FOREIGN TOUR STATISTICS
School/Player Pos. Yr. PPG RPG
ILL Calvin Brock G FR 9.8 4.2
ILL Brian Randle G SO 10.2 5.4
IOWA Mike Henderson G JR 4.0 0.0
IND Marco Killingsworth F SR 15.2 7.4
MICH Ron Coleman F SO 13.0 3.0
MSU Goran Suton C FR 8.4 7.0
MINN Spencer Tollackson C SO 10.2 4.4
NU Evan Seacat G SR 7.6 0.0
OSU Matt Terwilliger F SO 5.0 3.2
PSU Brandon Hassell F SO 7.4 4.6
PUR Matt Kiefer F SR 6.4 4.2
WIS Jason Chappell F JR 4.3 3.3