{"id":14708,"date":"2018-06-02T16:44:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-02T20:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportswtbu.com\/?p=14708"},"modified":"2020-01-09T17:39:55","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T22:39:55","slug":"former-mens-basketball-player-justin-alston-learns-to-be-resilient-in-first-professional-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2018\/06\/02\/former-mens-basketball-player-justin-alston-learns-to-be-resilient-in-first-professional-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Men&#8217;s Basketball Player Justin Alston Learns To Be &#8220;Resilient&#8221; in First Professional Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-14717 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2018\/06\/c0492f9f-ef10-4583-8a1a-8856c6e2a0a6-2.jpg\" alt=\"C0492F9F-EF10-4583-8A1A-8856C6E2A0A6\" width=\"950\" height=\"633\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By: Greg Levinsky<\/p>\n<p>Boston University graduate Justin Alston &#8217;17 recently returned home to the United States after spending his first year away from collegiate hoops on the German professional circuit. The 6-foot-8 forward\u00a0spent the past eight months over 3,500 miles from home in Trier, Germany playing for the Romerstrom Gladiators.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was great,&#8221; Alston said. &#8220;I had to get used to a lot of things, the food, the language a little bit, but for the most part I really enjoyed myself. &#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As a senior at BU, the Silver Spring, Maryland native\u00a0earned All-Patriot League Second-Team honors while averaging 12.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. After battling injuries, including a broken foot in his junior year in which he earned a medical redshirt for, he said his fifth-year senior season supplanted his value to professional scouts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That extra fifth-year that I got because of my injury really helped me grow and get stronger and get mentally prepared to be alone and be by myself,&#8221; Alston said. &#8220;It helped me get read to be a pro.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-14716\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/files\/2018\/06\/img_0036.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0036\" width=\"367\" height=\"320\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Oftentimes when American ballers go abroad, they encounter a language barrier with their new team. Luckily for Alston, everyone spoke English, including the coaching staff.<\/p>\n<p>He did, however, claim he learned some German.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know enough to get by,&#8221; Alston said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not gonna say I&#8217;m fluent or anything, but I know how to get by. I know how to ask for food.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Alston played in the first seven games, but broke his foot again in late October. After missing three months into early February, Alston returned and secured four 20-plus point outbursts, highlighted by a 22-point, 17-rebound performance in a 73-67 victory over German Pro A rival\u00a0Hebeisen White Wings Hanau on March 17. He led the Gladiators to a 21-18 mark, the team&#8217;s best record since joining the highest division in Germany.<\/p>\n<div class=\"responsiveVideo responsive-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2p80wwWsAsQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Alston said his mental toughness blossomed in his first professional campaign.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I continued to be resilient, when obstacles happen, such as injuries I&#8217;m always bouncing back,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Something I&#8217;ve learned this year is that when something goes wrong it motivates me to go even harder.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He suited up in 25 games for the Gladiators, averaging 11.9 points and 5.5 rebounds across 21.4 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<p>Alston, who turns 24 on July 2, said he plans to continue to play in Europe, but with a different team in the coming season. He said he wants to stay in Europe because it, at least somewhat, is comfortable like home.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the closest thing to America that you can get, basically,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Greg Levinsky Boston University graduate Justin Alston &#8217;17 recently returned home to the United States after spending his first year away from collegiate hoops on the German professional circuit. The 6-foot-8 forward\u00a0spent the past eight months over 3,500 miles from home in Trier, Germany playing for the Romerstrom Gladiators. &#8220;It was great,&#8221; Alston said. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17192,"featured_media":14718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1027],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21664,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14708\/revisions\/21664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}