City of Basketball Love

Eugene Rapay (@erapay5)
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Archbishop Carroll’s tandem of Colin and Ryan Daly put on another fine shooting display on Monday night in a 77-51 win over Cheltenham.

While they drained a combined seven 3-pointers, the third brother was grinding it out in the post.

Third brother?

That would be Miks Antoms, who lives with the Daly family. The 6-foot-7 forward, 230-pound Latvian forward doesn’t play the same type of glamorous, sharpshooting game as his American family, opting to take the blue-collar route as a bruiser down low. In the game against Cheltenham, he finished with 12 points.

He finished right behind Ryan’s 19 points and Colin’s 17 points.

Antoms, a senior, is playing in his first season for Archbishop Carroll and his first one in the United States.

“It was my dream ever since I was 10 to come play in America,” he said.

Antoms arrived in the United States at the end of the summer, just in time for the school year and preseason.

Latvia, his native country, does not have leagues for high school and college-aged players. There is only a professional league, and a secondary professional league. The harsh gap in competition was difficult for Antoms to deal with.

“In the league where I played, it was against adults and ex-pro players,” Antoms said. “It was hard. There were a lot of guys that were 6-10, 6-11.”

Now in America, while the game is the same, the feel is much more different than in Europe.  According to Antoms, European basketball is slower and more technical. The faster tempo of the American game is something he is still getting used to.

There were a handful of instances where he lagged behind the action on Monday night, as the ball swiftly moved from end to the other on fast breaks and in transition.

However, when he can get down the court and settle in the post, he is able to flourish in the post. Antoms got to work in the paint, using his fancy footwork to get by his opponent and finish around the basket. He also proved to be a tough rebounder, grabbing four offensive rebounds.

Even when the ball wasn’t in his hands, Antoms still found ways to contribute. He used his big frame to help free up his teammates with screens and boxed out his opponent to help give an open lane to the basket or grab rebounds.

“I think he took a big step in the right direction tonight,” Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk said. “He always plays hard.”

His play in the interior helped secure the one-sided win over Cheltenham. Once the Patriots grabbed the lead over the Panthers, they never looked back. They held a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter and it slowly ballooned as the game progressed.

The Panthers were paced by solid performances from Trevonn Pitts (12 points) and Anthony White (nine points), but it ultimately wasn’t enough.

Archbishop Carroll improved to 3-0, while Cheltenham received its first loss, dropping to 3-1.

For someone who has just moved thousands of miles away from his native country, you would think that he would feel some effects of culture shock and homesickness. However, that’s not the case, he’s loving it here. He hopes to go on to next level to play college basketball and to stay in America. Latvia is a distant land far from his thoughts. The transition has been easier than most would think.

“Everything he does is just like a normal American, he adapted immediately,” Ryan said. “He’s been on the ball with school and on the court. Off the court, he has friends of his own, he hangs with my friends too.”

It helps having a senior veteran player showing you the ropes. Just because they live together, it doesn’t mean that he has been taking it easy on him.

“Ryan is mean sometimes,” Antoms said, smiling. “He makes jokes about me, saying I’m soft, but I’m getting used to that. It’s cool, he’s always pushing me to practice harder.”

Antoms put together a strong first and fourth quarter performance when he spent more time on the floor, possibly due to his conditioning. He admits that it is not where it needs to be just yet, but he has been working on it with the help of Ryan, his teammates, and his coaches.

The Patriots are going to need to need his size and his presence on the floor for as long as they can once they start playing teams with bigger personnel. They are going to need each other to take their play to the next level.

“Luckily, Carroll found him and he found Carroll,” Ryan said.