The Azle Hornets welcomed an international opponent to the Hornet Gym Monday, Dec. 15, hosting St. Aloysius, a private high school from Sydney, Australia, as part of the Australians’ Texas basketball tour.
St. Aloysius, led by head coach Julian Khozzruh, traveled with 30 student-athletes, fielding ninth-grade, junior varsity and varsity teams. The stop in Azle marked the second-to-last game of a 19-day trip through Texas that included games and tournaments in Cedar Creek, Krum, Austin, San Antonio and Houston, before concluding at North Mesquite Dec. 16.
The visit came during Australia’s summer break, with the players trading beach weather and summer activities at home for December conditions in Texas. The team will make the 17-hour return flight to Sydney — one of the longest commercial flights in the world — following the tour. Khozzruh also has a personal connection to the trip, having participated in this tour as a player in 2003. St. Aloysius is in Kirribilli, a suburb on Sydney’s Lower North Shore.
