Senior forward Rob Johnson is part of the 10-player contingent from the Norfolk State men's basketball team that traveled to the Bahamas this week in an overseas trip designed to get the new-look Spartans out on the court before the start of the academic year. After losing four of the team's five starters from last season, the coaching staff is looking to fill the void left by a core group of players who led NSU to its first-ever MEAC title.

One of those players looking to fill that void is Johnson, who filed the blog below after NSU's first two games, an 82-68 win over the Summer of Thunder on Thursday night and a 99-67 victory over the PJ Stringers on Friday night. On Thursday, Kris Brown added 18 points, while Zieyik Estime and Pendarvis Williams each added 13. Jordan Weathers added 10 points, and AJ Rogers grabbed 10 boards.

Read about that game and the second game, right here from Johnson:

“Our trip to the Bahamas has been awesome so far. The beach is right outside and the view is beautiful. We won our first game by 14 points last night (Thursday) against the Summer of Thunder. Tonight (Friday) we played our second opponent and came out of the gates a little bit slow. The score at halftime was 49-39 and we knew we needed to focus more on defense if we wanted the put this scrappy team away.

“In the third quarter we went on a 12-0 run led by Jamel Fuentes, who finished with eight points, nine assists and five steals. He has been distributing the ball great and will have a huge impact on our team this season. He has also stepped up as a vocal leader on the team, especially defensively.

“Transfer Zieyik Remy Estime has been playing lights out. He shot the ball great the past two games and was 8-of-10 tonight with 17 points in just 14 minutes. He will have a big impact this season as well, hopefully filling the void that guard Chris McEachin left.

“I have also been very impressed with Jordan Weathers and Kris Brown. Their energy and athleticism will be fun to watch in Echols this year, and they both have been playing great. Kris finished the night with 12 points and Jordan had 12 as well. The team had six players score in double figures, led by Estime.

“We have one more game tomorrow, and our main focus is putting two halves together. It has been a great experience so far, and I am very pleased with the players that have stepped up. Hopefully we will go 3-0 on this trip and carry some momentum going into the season.”