NISH tops team from Australia in exhibition

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, December 17, 2019

New Iberia Senior High School was the scene of a competitive, entertaining basketball matchup against an independent boys’ school in Sydney, Australia.

New Iberia’s 52-40 exhibition victory over the Sydney Grammar School fit NISH basketball coach Todd Russ’s motto of his team being willing to play anybody.

Russ said he is excited about the possibility of bringing more international teams to New Iberia.

“I would love to get the city of New Iberia to come out to see players from different countries and different parts of the globe,” Russ said. “That’s what we do with the Battle of the Berry Tournament coming up this week where we try to pull teams from out of this area, so the locals can see players they’ve heard of but never seen.”

Wayne Adams, the athletic director of the Sydney school, was equally thrilled at the opportunity for his team to play a seven-game U.S. tour that has taken them to several cities, culminating this week in Los Angeles.

This is the school’s third U.S. tour, and normally takes about eight months to plan. Sydney Grammar is a 12- to 18-year-old all-boys academically selective high school.

“We are considered one of the top three selective academic schools in the country, so sport in the school was really low just ten years ago,” Adams said. “We’ve tried to lift sport through these tours as one of the initiatives.”

Adams said that all 1,200 boys attending the school play some type of sport. In basketball, there are 45 teams who play every weekend. The team that played against NISH is considered an elite first team that was undefeated in the six previous games played before Monday night. The JV team also only lost one game during this tour. Their last game will be in Los Angeles later this week before returning to Australia.

While the basketball crowd were decidedly rooting for the home team, the Sydney team did have a fan of their own. New Iberia resident and Sydney, Australia, native Bonnie Fremin decided to check out the game and visit with the team with her husband Donald Fremin, a New Iberia native.

“I especially enjoyed visiting with the players and they were excited to meet a fellow Aussie,” Bonnie Fremin said.

The Sydney school, despite missing two of its best players, fought hard against a talented NISH team that was electrifying in front of its home fans, but also mistake prone.

“Regardless of who we play against, we trust our brand,” Russ said. “We tried to be prepared for whatever comes our way and tonight we were fortunate to where it worked.”

The NISH coach acknowledged the difficulty of playing against a team that understands how to play well and with a different style of ball that included more movement and fundamentals. The biggest difference in the game resulted in the Yellow Jackets athletic ability to down a team that has played a lot of basketball in the last couple of weeks, Russ said.

“Our ability to help recover and to make them uncomfortable at times, that played a huge factor in the game,” Russ said.

Russ had ample praise for many of his players, particularly seniors Stiless Jolivet, who the coach describes as the team’s leader, and captain, senior Jaquan Latula, who has stepped to the forefront. Jolivet, Brennan Chatmen and Jaterrius Fusilier led the Yellow Jackets with 11, 15 and 10 points, while Latula wreaked havoc on defense.

Equally impressive offensively was Sydney player Edward Hemphill-Kingston, who scored 19 of his team’s 40 points.

He said he was especially excited to play against strong competition.

“It helps us get ready for our season because we are playing such high caliber competition,” Kingston said. “It’s a totally different game and high intensity. It’s a really good experience to help us get better. We don’t play in this kind of stadium. It’s loud and it’s a great atmosphere to be a part of.”

Kingston, who especially enjoyed eating alligator, got to participate in a U.S. tradition of trading jerseys with NISH players.