PHOENIX — The Central Catholic Boys Basketball team is enjoying some time in the Arizona sun during their winter break.
The Fighting Irish are playing three games in the Cactus Jam Phoenix Hoops Classic this week and also becoming much closer as a team.
On Wednesday, the Irish defeated a team from Pennsylvania to improve to 2-0 this week. But it’s the time off the court that might be most valuable this week.
"I feel like it's good for us as a unit. We're coming closer, we're having team bonding and we're playing tough teams," said junior Isaiah Brenneman. "The main focus is knowing why we came here. We came here to win basketball games, we didn't come here to have fun. We're in Arizona, it's sunny, there's a lot of things to do but we just have to maintain, stay focused and locked in knowing why we came here which is to win basketball games."
Mike Floyd’s team will spend a night as a team at Top Golf and also have an arcade night as well. It’s been a great balance of fun and winning so far.
"I think it's just team bonding. For us, five of our 11 guys are football guys so we don't see them all fall and we got them really late this year," said Floyd. "We're just trying to form a team bond."
"It definitely brings everyone together because we're around each other 24/7 when we're here," said Brenneman. "Continuing to do team-bonding, continuing to play on the court. The combination of that is going to allow us to continue to play well throughout the season."
"It's a business trip as well," said Floyd. "It's a lot more fun to go and do the fun things we're doing after a win."
The Irish will play one more game in Arizona before returning back home to northwest Ohio.