They flew all night after a road trip that would make an NBA team blush. It was 4,297 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, to Washington, D.C., and Bullis’ boys basketball team felt every one of them when it finally arrived home Sunday evening after a weekend tournament in the Great Northwest.
Three days later, still slightly weary, the Bulldogs were just fresh enough to fight through a challenging Interstate Athletic Conference road game at Episcopal and earn a 58-56 victory.
The win on Wednesday night gives Bullis (10-4, 3-0 IAC) a shot to grab sole possession offirst place when it plays league rival St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes (10-3, 3-0) on Sunday.
“It was a long flight and we had practice the next day so we didn’t get too much sleep,” said Bullis junior Nick Petkovich, who scored 16 points in the win over the Maroon. “But it was worth it to go to a place like that.”
A friend of Bullis coach Bruce Kelley invited the Bulldogs to the third annual Alaska Airlines Classic, a tournament pitting four Alaska schools against four from outside the state. Their play at that event epitomized a squad short on star power, but long on depth.
“We felt all along like this team was special,” said sophomore guard Elijah Gore. “There’s no complaining about playing time, or shots or anything like that. We just want to win.”
Gore contributed a game-high 21 points for Bullis, which scored just six points in the first quarter and looked like a team that had recently flown across the country. But the Bulldogs rallied for 19 second-quarter points to take the lead. The two teams traded the lead eight times in the second half alone.
Great White North
» Bullis flew all the way to Alaska and won two games to reach the tournament championship. Who did it face? Notre Dame Academy, the catholic school from Middleburg, Va., coached by Tim Fudd, a former Bullis assistant.
» Bullis junior Nick Petkovich missed almost the entire summer after breaking his left foot.
» Episcopal (5-7, 0-3) was led by 6-foot-7 junior C Peter Diffley, who scored a game-high 22 points, including 15 in the second half to keep the Maroon close.
