Blackbirds Defeated By Assigeco

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8/26/06 -- The Blackbirds dropped their Italian tour opener, falling to Assigeco, 73-64 on Saturday evening in Casalpuster-lengo/Codogno, Italy.

LIU was paced by senior James Williams with 14 points. Junior Paska Morkeliunas added 13 points and six rebounds. Classmate Eugene Kotorobai added nine points and a team-best eight rebounds.

Italy Tour Journal – Paska Morkeliunas

Today is Saturday, our second day in Italy. This morning we had a wake-up call of 7:00 and then downstairs for a breakfast. Only maybe three of us liked the breakfast. We are a bit spoiled, getting eggs a lot in the U.S. and today’s meal was cereal, hard bread, crossiants and lots of fruit (fruit at every meal).

Next it was off for a boat ride on Lake Como, the third largest lake in Italy. It was beautiful. The houses were amazing, full of history. We had a guide named Laura. Villa, villa, villa. Those were the most-said words out of her mouth.

We saw George Clooney’s place, which is he bought $10 million euros (about 13 million American dollars, we were told). There was the home of the late fashion designer, Gianni Versace. Michael Schmaker, the richest man in the world. Mussolini’s house and the church where he died in 1945. King of Saudi Arabia digs. Lots of villas.

We took the boat to a very small town called Bellagio – yes, like the casino in Las Vegas – and walked the streets. We ran into another college team- the Wisconsin Badgers. They were finishing up their stay in Italy and had a group of 100 people with them. The town was gorgeous, on a hill when you came into it by boat. And you climbed up the stairs. Lots of shops, food places and sounvieer shops.

Came back to Como and had lunch (pre-game meal) in downtown. None of the restaurants would take a reservation for 20 people so we were all on our own. Pizza!

We rested for a bit before leaving for the game in a town called Casalpusterlengo/Codogno. Long name.