When the Virginia Peninsula Community College men’s basketball team traveled to Massachusetts the week before Thanksgiving, lasting memories were made.
The Gators, playing three games in three days, opened with a 33-point win over Quinsigamond Community College and closed with an 11-point victory over Bunker Hill Community College, the No.8 team in the country. In between was a three-point loss to No.9 Northern Essex Community College in a game the Gators led by 14 at halftime. One day after their return, the Gators learned those performances catapulted them into the top 20 national rankings for just the second time in program history.
During the games, scouts from four-year schools were on hand to watch the Gators play, resulting in several scholarship offers from those coaches.
The Gators visited and practiced at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, a sports mecca none of the players had been to before.
But what was the best part of the trip, one that took 14 hours each way on a chartered bus, for players Emmanuel Angila and Isaiah Thomas?
“Honestly, the bus ride. Just cracking jokes with each other, bonding as a team,” Angila said, pointing out late-night stops for gas, food and to stretch their legs.
Thomas agreed.
“The drive back, honestly,” he said was the best part. “Everybody was excited that we just beat the No.8 team in the country. Joking mostly with each other, with the coaches. Everybody was in a good mood. … It was a great little trip.”
VPCC athletics director and men’s basketball coach Chris Moore didn’t share his players’ enthusiasm for the amount of time spent on the bus. For him, it was the worst part of the trip.
“We left at 12 in the morning Wednesday night/Thursday morning. We slept the majority of the way up, but it was a beast of a ride,” Moore said. “We spent more time on the charter bus than we did in the hotel rooms. I think everything else was amazing.”
It’s the first time in Moore’s eight-year tenure the Gators have taken such a trip. He had been considering it for a few years but was unable to swing it for various reasons. This year, things fell into place.
First, Moore arranged in-kind donations with hotels in the area, which made it possible from a budget standpoint.
Second, assistant coach Lars Farnham provided a big assist. He’s a former coach at Quinsigamond, located in Worcester, Mass. He used his connections to hammer out details of the trip. One was arranging a stop at the Hall of Fame, where the Gators held a practice and toured the museum. Farnham admitted he called in a few favors.
Lastly, Moore thought it was important to meet in person many of the coaches in the Northeast who have shown interest in and recruited his players through the years.
“They really wanted us to come up there,” Moore said. “It gave us an opportunity for those coaches to actually see our guys live and for our guys to get out of the (Hampton Roads) area.”
Angila, who’s from Kenya but graduated from Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach, also has relatives in Texas. He has traveled to both places, so this wasn’t an unusual trip for him, except for the basketball.
It was his first time playing three games in three days, experiencing long bus rides, and staying in hotels with teammates for multiple days. He anticipated a bonding experience with his teammates and coaches, but not much else.
“I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew it was going to be a long weekend,” he said. “I knew it would be a good trip for us.”
Thomas is from North Carolina but moved to the Richmond area in middle school. He graduated from Manchester High School. He has taken car trips to Florida with his family.
“My family, we love a good road trip,” he said.
Angila admitted the magnitude of the trip might not be realized for a few years.
“I feel like it’s one of those things when you’re in the moment, you really don’t know how good it is and how much you really appreciate it,” he said. “But one day we’re all going to look back at our (junior college) experience and look back at the pictures and realize this was a good time in our lives.”
He got to experience it with people he never knew he could meet when he decided to attend VPCC.
“We really learned more about each other,” he said. “We had to sleep in a hotel with each other for two or three nights, staying on the bus with each other for God knows how many hours. It was really learning more about your teammates and spending more time with each other off the court.”
Thomas was thankful for the opportunity, mostly because he knows how far this program has come. The Gators didn’t have a gym to call their own until last season.
“The fact we got to go to Boston and did what we did, everybody was really grateful,” he said. “Just glad everybody came back safe. I got right in my bed as soon as I got home. It was a good little trip.”
Moore would like to make sure at least one of the VPCC athletic teams takes such a journey each year, but knows that’s difficult. However, it is worth it.
“Some of the players have never been out of the state of Virginia,” he said. “For an opportunity for them to go to Massachusetts and to see the Hall of Fame, it made that a surreal moment, not only for the players but also for the coaching staff. That was my first time at the Hall of Fame. It was a very cool experience.”
He enjoyed witnessing the camaraderie and the players bonding on the long bus rides.
“Just seeing their faces,” he said. “Leading up to getting there, they were just super-excited. You could hear them laughing (on the bus).”
He knows most of the players and coaches might never return to the Hall of Fame, so he was glad to share that with them.
“They’ll always remember the opportunity that was given to them by VPCC to be able to experience that,” Moore said. “It definitely was worth the investment.”
When Moore returned home, he was exhausted, as was the rest of the coaching staff. But he did see one positive from the long ride.
“It prepped us just in case we make it to New York,” he said, referencing the site of the NJCAA Division III national tournament in March.
For more information on athletics at the College, go to www.vpccgators.com.