NORFOLK, Va. - Senior guard/forward Corey Lyons (Bronx, N.Y.) kept a running diary of Norfolk State's preseason, Labor Day weekend trip to the Bahamas.

The Spartans played two games, winning both, and got a chance to tour some of the scenic island.

August 29
Travel days for basketball are long and tiring. I think the team was excited and also a little bit worried because of the weather conditions we heard about, but everything was smooth from take-off to landing. The Bahamas is a beautiful place and filled with people who are kind and generous.

Everyone on the team has their own personality from the players to the coaches. For example, coach (Robert) Jones is laid back, but passionate about his work and won't think twice about telling someone "they're absolutely wrong." Another example would be James Williams, who is full of energy and really can't stay in one place for too long. Anyway, the first travel day is always a tiring one, so after eating everyone just went to sleep.

Aug. 30
The day has finally come when we get to showcase our team. We woke up at about 9 a.m. to eat breakfast. Breakfast was better then expected because they actually had a lot of things to choose from. After eating, we always get a few hours to ourselves to get prepared for the game. I take a shower as game preparation because to me if you feel good, you play good.

So now, game time comes and we are all excited to play. The gym wasn't as high-class as some of us had expected, but that really didn't matter. We just wanted to play. To me, the game went well. For the most part, everyone did their job. The outcome was that we won (101-87), the other team was competitive and gave us a few scares but nothing major that we couldn't overcome. I finished with a game-high 34, 'Moe' (Deloach) had 28, and 'Kev' (Worsley) had 17. Everything was looking good and the day ended with a nice dinner, followed by a good night's rest.

Aug. 31
Today is Sunday and it is our last day being in the Bahamas. We are all very excited about today because we had a good game yesterday. We would like that to carry into today. We ate breakfast at 10 a.m., and we won't have pre-game lunch because the game is at 2 p.m.

The game started off very well. We ran our sets and played well on defense. Eventually, we had a pretty big lead. We had some breakdowns when the fourth quarter hit, but we still won the game. Everyone had a decent game.

We got some time after the game to travel to the tour area. The area was pretty rural, but full of culture and festivities. Later that night, we went to the beach and the pool and played an old water game called "Marco Polo." The water made everyone sleepy and exhausted, so after that we went to sleep and got prepared to leave for Norfolk in the morning.

The Bahamas was a very fun place and I wouldn't mind taking a vacation there for my own entertainment!