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“We had been very busy tonight watching and cheering for Mike in the course of the recreation and, on the similar time, giving information again to all of the Mongolian followers,” stated Puntsag, who not solely is a consul on the Consulate Normal of Mongolia in San Francisco, but additionally is an ardent Flyers fan and a bridge to his homeland of three.4 million folks.
“All of Mongolia is cheering for him,” he stated.
Whereas he was in a position to watch the sport on ESPN+ in San Francisco, he stated folks in Mongolia — the place the 13-hour time distinction from Dayton made for an 8 a.m. Tuesday tip off –were not.
“Sadly they couldn’t watch it stay on TV, in order that they had been ready for any information we might give them,” Puntsag stated by telephone late Monday evening. “Particularly the younger folks, all of them know of Mike and had been longing for the stats and the way he was enjoying. So we had been busy with Fb teams, telling them every little thing we might.”
He bought a lot of his data from Sharavjamts Tserenjankhar, Mike’s dad and his buddy, who was on the recreation together with his spouse, Erdenebulgan Purevsuren, and posted working accounts on social media. Puntsag bought extra from Dave Jablonski, the Dayton Each day Information beat reporter, who was doing the identical.
It was a historic outing for Sharavjamts, who’s the primary individual from Mongolia ever to obtain a Division I athletic scholarship and that has everybody again dwelling beaming.
“It was a fantastic second for us,” Puntsag stated. “This marks a brand new starting, a brand new web page for Mongolian basketball historical past, I can proudly say.
“Mike is breaking the ice. He’s paving the way in which for Mongolian younger folks to allow them to imagine in themselves. They will say ‘Oh, a Mongolian man is within the NCAA! It’s doable!’”
Puntsag admitted earlier than the sport he was nervous about how Sharavjampts would meet the second:
“He’s a younger man. He has a lot stress on his shoulders. He’s not solely enjoying for himself and his staff, he’s carrying his complete nation on his again.
“That’s why it was a giant reduction when he hit that that first shot. You would see in his face he was relaxed. He was snug. He simply doesn’t get too excited. He’s in a position to keep calm.”
Sharavajamts made that first of his two treys on the evening simply 31 seconds into the sport. They had been the primary factors of the season for the No. 24 ranked Flyers.
After the shot, Sharavjamts backpedaled down the ground with ‘been there/carried out that” composure reasonably than some new child celebration. After the sport he was simply as nonplussed in his evaluation.
“I used to be feeling it (in) the warmups,” he stated. “I knew that shot was going to go in, so I simply took it.”
Teammate Mustapha Amzil – who had memorable outing in his first recreation as a Flyer two years in the past when scored 22 factors towards LaSalle – stated having an affect recreation proper out of the field boosts your confidence:
“It’s feeling for positive. You realize you belong right here. You realize you are able to do harm. I really feel like Mike goes to have an excellent season.”
Nobody was extra happy afterward than Anthony Grant.
“That was an excellent first recreation for him,” the pinnacle coach stated. “I assumed there have been loads of issues he did effectively. I feel there are some issues he’ll be capable to study from and he has to enhance on, however I feel total it was actually spectacular to see the poise he performed with, particularly on the offensive finish with what he’s being requested to do that early in his profession.
“He has an excellent really feel for this recreation. Nice imaginative and prescient. The best way he performs the sport of basketball is, to me, the way in which it’s purported to be performed when it comes to sharing the ball and understanding the best way to make performs and the best way to make the sport simpler for his teammates.”
Discovering teammates
The sold-out crowd of 13,407 was pulling for Sharavjamts from the beginning, whether or not it was buzzing about his deft passing skill or using the officers any time they referred to as a foul on him, which they did 4 occasions.
Amzil talked about Sharavjamts passing skills afterward: “It feels good as a result of I’m on the receiving finish. Mike is a superb ball handler. It’s superior having a giant guard who can see some angles that smaller guards don’t see typically.”
Tserenjankhar stated his son’s passing skills the place honed when he was a teenager:
“From the time he began enjoying organized basketball at seven or eight, he was all the time enjoying level guard and going towards guys three and 4 years older and far greater than him. It wasn’t straightforward for him. He needed to discover a method to deal with the ball and get it to different gamers.”
That he typically does it with a little bit of trickery and typically makes defenders look unware could have one thing to do with genes, Tserenjankhar chuckled.
The 7-foot Tserenjankhar performed with the Harlem Globetrotter some 20 years in the past and as Puntsay famous: “He was a legend.”
The Globetrotters billed him as “The Mongolian Shark” and even had a passing play named after him, so he is aware of a factor or two about hardcourt hijinks.
“So yeah perhaps it handed down via blood to him,” Tserenjankhar laughed.
Mongolia’s staff
Final month Tserenjankhar and his spouse moved from Mongolia to Centerville for the whole UD season to present their son assist.
Monday morning he stated he supplied his boy some fatherly recommendation:
“After I was driving him again to high school, I simply advised him to be calm and imagine in himself. To simply, ‘Go do what you do’ and have enjoyable on the ground.”
Monday evening Tserenjankhar and his spouse had been invited to hitch another followers of their Loge seating space overlooking Blackburn Courtroom. Though they weren’t within the common dad and mom’ part, their son shortly discovered them when he took the court docket for warmups.
He made eye contact and that calms him, he stated:
“I simply know they’re right here and so they bought my again and I can do ‘me’ extra.”
Tserenjankhar was particularly warmed when he heard what his son had stated:
“I used to be very blissful to listen to him say it feels secure for him together with his household within the stands.
“It was not a straightforward determination to come back right here for the whole basketball season. I used to be the Minister of Sport in Mongolia and I had to surrender my job, however now I’m glad I did it.”
Tserenjankhar stated he thinks there are a least 5 or 6 Mongolian households within the Dayton space.
Within the Bay Space, Puntsag stated, there are some 6,000 Mongolians. He stated his consulate has 17 western states in its jurisdiction.
He stated simply as he believes virtually all Mongolians within the America are pulling for UD due to Sharavjamts and he stated the Flyers have a big and ever-growing fan base in Mongolia itself:
“All of Mongolia is aware of the Dayton Flyers. And so they wish to know every little thing they do.”
The tv channel SPC, the Mongolian premier channel, despatched a movie crew to Dayton to do an expansive documentary on Sharavjamts and his faimly entitled “Mongolian Mike.” Quickly after the primary of eight trailers was made accessible, it had gotten to 200,000 views.
The Dayton Flyers Mongolian Followers Fb web page has 9.6 thousand followers.
Though he studied in Iowa and Denver, Puntsag stated he has no ties to UD and by no means has even been to Ohio. However he now feels particularly tied to the Flyers and had hoped to get a ticket stub and no matter different souvenirs he might from Monday evening’s historic recreation.
And a minimum of as soon as this season he hopes to hitch many different Mongolian followers from across the U.S. and attend a Flyers recreation at UD Enviornment.
He has a Dayton Flyers T-shirt and did have a crimson Flyers cap till his son commandeered it and now wears it himself.
As quickly as our dialog would finish Monday, Puntsag stated he turning his consideration again to ESPN to see if there have been clips from the sport of, higher but, it considered one of Mike’s passes had made SportsCenter’s High 10 performs of the day.
Again at UD Enviornment, as he was ending his press convention, Grant was requested if he’s discovered any Mongolian phrases but.
“I’ve not,” he stated with shrug.
That was additionally a little bit of a misstatement.
He has discovered one:
“Sharavajamts.”
And in relation to Dayton Flyers basketball this season, there could also be few phrases that imply any greater than that one.
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