Il nostro atleta all'estero per studio, si sta distinguendo oltre che nell' High School anche nello sport facendo parte della squadra dei Cowboys di Miles City in Montana. La squadra ha ottenuto la testa della classifica del Girone Conference Occidentale, l'ultima volta fu nel '89. Ora é la volta della fase successiva e sta disputando la Divisional A Eastern al Metrapark Arena di Billings.
Di seguito uno stralcio dell'articolo pubblicato nella notte dopo lo svolgimento del primo incontro:
Miles City says ciao to Browning; Hardin also advances to semis in Eastern A
By MIKE SCHERTING mscherting@billingsgazette.com
With strong inside play, Miles City's Andrea LoBiondo finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cowboys past Browning 66-46 in the first round of the Eastern A boys basketball divisional Thursday at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark.
Andrea LoBiondo, when he’s home in Milan, Italy, is surrounded by more than a million people.
Even so, playing in front of a tournament crowd like the Miles City foreign-exchange student did Thursday afternoon at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark, was a new experience. It was an atmosphere the 6-foot-8 center soaked up entirely.
“I love it,” he said after helping the Cowboys to a 66-46 win over Browning in the first round of the Eastern A tournament. “The more people there are, the more I want to show people what I can do.”
He and the Cowboys will get another chance to showcase their skills in Friday’s 5 p.m. semifinal against Hardin. The Bulldogs defeated Belgrade 66-61 in another first-round game. In loser-out action Thursday, Sidney eliminated Livingston 63-55.
If the Cowboys’ LoBiondo wanted to show what he could do, he succeeded. He finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. But nothing excited the Miles City throng — or the Cowboys — like a two-possession sequence in the third quarter that sparked the team’s surge to victory.
The big Italian threw down a powerful dunk — but missed the and-one free throw — for a 36-34 lead with 4:16 left in the fourth. Then, after Jordan Hipp tied the game for Browning, LoBiondo showed his range with a 3-pointer from the wing.
The Cowboys, who were led by Gavin Gundlach’s 15 points, outscored the Indians 27-10 from there.
“We just got pumped,” said Miles City’s Parker Barnosky, who scored all nine of his points in the first half. “And when you get pumped, you just go harder. It was just momentum and excitement that got us rolling.”
Then Barnosky added with a teasing laugh: “Too bad he can’t hit a free throw, though.”
It was LoBiondo’s first dunk of his Miles City career. He admitted it was a big part of the game, but he also refused to take credit for the Cowboys’ sprint to the finish.
“The credit for the run we had isn’t mine,” LoBiondo said. “If my teammates didn’t pass me the ball I wouldn’t have been open for the dunk or the 3.”