The Nisei Athletic Union (NAU) State Finals

NAU North/South Basketball Championships
By JORDAN IKEDA
RAFU STAFF WRITER
Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Nisei Athletic Union (NAU) State Finals took place Sunday at the University of San Francisco. More commonly known as the North/ South Basketball Championships where division winners from Southern Cal square off against their Northern Cal counterparts, the state finals heavily favored the North this year thanks to some key SoCal players not making the trip up to the Bay Area. Despite the less-than-full squads, there was plenty of crossovers, dimes and hardwood burns to fulfill bball desires for any fan of hoops.





Aye Minor MVP Travis Hom of the SF Drakes takes the ball to the hoop against Hollywood Dodgers Mason Mellor (12) as Scott Uyeshima watches.

The Rout

Sometimes when two teams face off against each other, it’s obvious from the tip that one is outmatched. Take the recent dismantling of the Detroit Pistons at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA’s Eastern Conference first round. From top to bottom, from star player to bench, from the defensive end to the offensive, the Cavs were just better.
This past weekend’s opening match up of Aye Minor division winners featured the San Francisco Drakes, the weekend’s host team, and the visiting Hollywood Dodgers.

At the onset, the game appeared to be pretty evenly matched.

The Dodgers, who enjoyed a height advantage with 6 foot 4 center Mason Mellor, used a steady attack of Mellor and point guard Scott Uyeshima to keep pace with the athletic Drakes.

Mellor finished the game with 28 points and 13 rebounds on 12 for 25 shooting, but converted only four of his 10 freethrows. Larry Lising added 11 points and four rebounds.

Uyeshima battled his way to 20 points, earning 13 trips to the line, while adding six rebounds and three assists. Being the only Dodger who could handle the rock, he faced full court pressure and saw a steady wave of double teams that forced him into a lot of costly turnovers that turned into transition buckets for the Drakes.

For the Dodgers, three players constituted all of their offensive production. No other Dodger scored. In fact Uyeshima could have had a handful more assists, but the rest of the team missed all 13 of their shot attempts.

On the flipside, Travis Hom of the Drakes put up 20 points and seven rebounds and led a balanced attack that saw every Drake score. Kurtis Wong and Cary Kato had an all around impact, Kato chipping in 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals and Wong adding 10 points, six boards, three assists and two steals.

In fact, while Hom won the Aye Minor finals MVP despite shooting 8 for 27, it was really an entire team effort that got the win. All of the Drakes could shoot, handle the ball and pass which led to a lot wide open looks. The Drakes were also superior athletically able to secure more rebounds and force turnovers and steals. Steven Young had eight points and 6 rebounds, and Tyler Woo and Christopher Tong combined for 10 points and 4 boards.

Even still, with four-and-a-half minutes to go in the first half, the Dodgers were within three points when Uyeshima and Mellor scored on back-to-back baskets.

That was the closest the Dodgers would get however, as the Drakes turned up the volume with their ballhawking and fastbreaking closing the first half with a 12-3 run.

The Drakes put the game away in the first six minutes of the second half with a 13-2 run that saw guard Jordan Wong score 11 of his 18 points. The Dodgers strung together a 9-0 run, but never recovered from the ten-minute stretch before and after the half.

The Drakes cruised to a 79-59 victory.

===

Photos by JUN NAGATA/Rafu Shimpo
CAP (NAU1): Foster City Flyers forward, Jae Takahashi (55) and guard Kenya Iwamoto (23), battle for the ball against Striders forward Matt Nakashima (41) and guard Brent Watanabe in Sunday’s NAU Aye Major finals match at the University of San Francisco.

The Comeback

Going into Sunday’s finals, the Aye Major championship game was the most evenly matched. Both the Striders (from the Montebello/Chino/Monterey Park area) and the Foster City Flyers had their full rosters.

With seven lead changes, the game was a dead heat for the first 20 minutes. The Flyers played a well-rounded team game spreading 38 points amongst six players, while the Striders rode their stars Matt Nakashima and Yuji Kimura to a one-point lead going into the half.

Nakashima led all scores with 28 points and finished the game with 13 rebounds. Despite those game high totals, Flyers forward Justin Louie, who finished the game with six points and five rebounds, did an excellent job of making him work for all 28. Louie extended his defense well beyond the arc consistently crowding Nakashima, who is known for his silky three-point shot. He also forced him to put the ball on the ground, something Nakashima is less comfortable doing, and funneled him into traffic, where the Flyers’ bigs were waiting to help.

As a result, Nakashima shot only 8-20, but did a lot of damage from the line where he was a perfect 10-10.

The second half of the game was the complete opposite of the first. Perhaps spurred on by their charismatic coach, Brian Quon, the Flyers opened the second half with a 26-11 run behind the three-point shooting of Kenya Iwamoto who hit three triples and the inside game of Jae Takahashi who scored six of his 11 points in the 9-minute run.

Nakashima missed several shots during that stretch and Ryan Shimizu, who had an off game, went 2-13 in the second half, 3-19 overall (he did contribute 5 steals). The Striders stayed within 20 points, thanks to the scoring touch of Byron Watanabe who scored nine of his 11 points in the second half.

But despite Watanabe’s success, with five minutes left to play, the Striders were staring at a 75-58 deficit.

That’s when things got interesting. Striders veteran Eric Higa, who contributed a row of blanks in the boxscore, made a savvy (if not somewhat dirty) play when he tangled himself up with Takahashi. Pushing and shouting ensued, both players had to be restrained and both ended up with technical fouls.

While seemingly a frustration foul, the play turned out to be key because Takahashi picked up his fifth and was forced to ride pine.

From that point forward, the Striders made their push and went about methodically whittling away the Flyers’ 17-point lead. Watanabe continued his hot second half and hit a couple of shots, Kimura got to the freethrow line, and Nakashima woke up.

With 1:53 left in the game, Shimizu and then Nakashima hit consecutive threes, followed by a Watanabe make.

Meanwhile, the Flyers couldn’t hit a freethrow to save their finals hopes. They finished the game 11-26 from the charity stripe. They also seemed to panic in the game’s waning moments, coughing up the ball four times to a frenetic and frantic Strider full court press in the last minute, including a carry-over violation.

And they fouled a lot. The Flyers sent Nakashima to the line four times during that stretch and he calmly sank all of them to pull his team to within one point at 77-78.

With only 30 seconds left in the game, the Striders were forced to foul Iwamoto, who put his team back up by three.

With the clock winding down, Kimura took the ball hard to the hole hoping to draw a whistle. When he didn’t get it, the Striders were forced to foul again.

Flyers guard, Chris Seto hit one of two free throws to ice the game.

Iwamoto took home the Aye Major finals MVP behind his 27 points (4-8 from beyond the arc) and four rebounds. Bryan Takahara brought snowmen to the game with eight points and eight boards and Cliff Suruki and Marvin Choa each had 10 points.

For the Striders, Kimura finished the game with 22 points and 8 rebounds while Nick Silva and Brent Watanabe both struggled with their shots, going a combined 2-12.

===

Taiwan Center’s star guard, Kevin Toda, works his way through the Gametime defense of Kenny Kagawa (33) and Chris Tsutsui (12), during the NAU State Aye Plus Championship.

No Foul!

Of all the games played Sunday, the Aye Plus championship match up seemed to most favor the North.

Gametime, from the Bay Area, looked like the early favorites due to their depth, filling out their roster with eleven players, though four finished the game with DNPs.

On the other side of the ball, Taiwan Center from Los Angeles brought only five players and, in case of an emergency, one player/coach. Not only did the lack of available bodies forebode fatigue due to the stopped clock rules, it also made fouls a valuable commodity.

With only center Kang Wang the only true big man on their roster, Taiwan Center head coach Ted Maesaki had one motto he constantly yelled out to his players, “No Foul!”

Taiwan Center forced the tempo of the game by walking the ball up on each of their fi rst ten possessions.

It was obvious they didn’t want to get into a running game and they worked several half court sets eating clock. Guard/Forward Drew Bryant got the team off to an early lead by drilling fi ve consecutive shots, four of which were threes. After the first eight minutes, Taiwan Center was leading 28-18.

But the offensive barrage took a noticeable toll on Bryant who grabbed his knees and sucked wind during any dead ball and was late on some of his defensive rotations. To complicate matters, despite the continual warnings from his coach, Wang found himself with two early fouls.

Guy Kitagawa of Gametime took this opportunity to catch fi re. Kitagawa, who fi nished the game with 27 points including seven triples, hit back-to-back-to-back treys to keep his team in the game.

But he could only cut the 10-point defi cit by three thanks to 13 straight points from Taiwan Center’s Kevin Toda.

Gametime’s Adam Blightman and Tim Tully muscled their way through the thin Taiwan Center Frontcourt dropping 21 and 27 respectively on 62 percent shooting and helped keep their team in the game.

Going into the break, Taiwan Center held a 48-42 lead.

Gametime came out in the second half and went on a 15-11 run to pull within three points at 61-58.

To add to this subtle momentum shift, with 12 minutes to go, despite coach Maesaki’s warning on every defensive possession, Wang picked up his fi fth personal on a silly body check and was forced to watch the rest of the game from the bench.

As Kang went to sit, up from the pine rose Taiwan Center player/coach George Nishida, easily the oldest man on either squad. Nishida shed his shirt that had been hiding his jersey (most everyone in the crowd did not even realize he was a player) and tried to get loose as he stepped onto the court to replace Wang. No short order since Wang was the team’s leading rebounder and only center.

With their opponent severely crippled, Wang’s ejection seemed the ideal opportunity for Gametime to make a push.

But no charge came. Instead, the referees took over.

The second half of the game was a continuous parade to the free throw line. The refs must have had sore lips late Sunday afternoon,
because for 20 straight minutes, they never let up on the whistles.

The game, which pushed the two hour mark, featured 48 fouls called, had three players foul out and saw a whopping combined total of 67 free throws attempted.

In reality, Mr. Mo (momentum) never left Taiwan Center. Gametime just seemed to miss the mark on several different fronts. Whereas
Taiwan Center converted 30 of their 36 freebies, Gametime shot a miserable 13 of 31. They also, despite enjoying a full roster, never pushed the pace and instead decided to play right into Taiwan Center’s game plan, leading to a 96-88 victory for the southerners.

That game plan was frenetic offensive bursts from Bryant, who finished with 29 points, and the steady, meticulous attack of Toda, who took home MVP honors with the quietest 42-point performance I’ve ever see.

The 8 of 11 from the field was pretty enough, but the 24 for 26 from the line was ridiculous.

Toda went with the flow of the game that featured lots of whistles.
He adapted, found his way into the key, got to the line and ended up carrying his outmanned team to the only victory for the Southern California teams. He was hands down the most valuable player for the entire tournament not simply for his 42 points, but for his overall effi ciency as well as game management.



===

Quicksilver forward Paul Nitake (20) drives to the hoop against Kellen Ito of the San Francisco Associates in the NAU Double Aye Championship game.

The End Score is All that Matters

The Double Aye championship game pitted the Quicksilver against the San Francisco Associates in what was a fitting finale to a day’s worth of excellent competition.

Despite missing their best player and two of their glue guys, the F.O.R. Quicksilver came up to San Francisco to play. Unfortunately, their lack of depth seemed to contribute to a poor second half.

The Quicksilver started the game off attacking and kicking and really spreading the rock. After the first ten minutes, every starter had scored.

On the other side of the rock, the Associates mainly relied on two players, Jeremy Lee, who had 15 first half points, and Conant Chi, who had nine.

The game was a tale of two halves. In the first, the Quicksilver looked the part of the stronger, faster and more fluid team. They ballhawked on defense, they ran when their were opportunities, they cut and slashed and hit a good amount of their outside shots. They also took advantage of Associates rookie center Kellen Ho whose inexperience and slow feet caused defensive mismatches and left shooters open.

Quicksilver Paul Nitake scored 17 of his team high 20 in the half, Tze Tse made all three of his shots and Vi Ly hit 4 of 7.

FOR took a 45-37 lead into the break.

The second half was both different and more of the same for the Associates who continued to rely on Lee and Chi to score. Both picked up where they had left off, Chi scoring 11 in the period and Lee dropping 13 with Ross Hiroshima chipping in seven of his nine points in the half.

The difference for the Associates was in the playing time of rookie Ho, who finished with seven points and 10 boards, but stayed glued to the bench for most of the second half.

Perhaps a quicker, more veteran Associate lineup was behind the reasoning, but oddly enough, the team that changed most drastically was the Quicksilver.

Instead of continuing with the team play, the Quicksilver often slowed the pace and went into isolation sets. Perhaps it was fatigue, perhaps it was a team trying to nurse a lead, whatever the reason, the Quicksilver slowly watched their advantage dwindle away.

Lighting fast Mark Nitake had a most impressive-looking, yet surprisingly hollow game, making several mind-blowing plays that only resulted in 11 points, 5 boards and a single assist from the point guard position. He shot 5-18. Nitake also cooled off considerably shooting 1-8 in the second half. DJ Nakabe, who shot well in the first, went only 2 of 6 in the second.

In fact, the team’s two most efficient scorers, both took the least amount of shots. Tse, who shot 7-9 from the field and 2-2 from the line, added five boards and three blocks, while Ly, who was 8-12 from the field, only took five shots in the half. His last bucket, with 3:36 left in the game, turned out to be the last points the FOR squad would score.

Lee, who eventually took home the MVP award with his 28 points, three rebounds and 3 steals, scored the Associates last six points, four from the stripe, to put his team up by one point.

After securing an offensive rebound off of a missed shot that would have put them up by one, the Quicksilver had one last opportunity to win the game. Nitake attacked the rim, but when he went up for his shot, he twisted in the air and didn’t get the whistle. As the ball fell to back down, Nakabe went up amongst a sea of Associates and as he fell back down tapped the ball.

With 0.1 seconds left on the clock, one of the referees blew the whistle, calling a foul on Lee. Lee threw his arms in the air in frustration and joined his teammates in open displays of displeasure at the admittedly ticky-tack call.

Nakabe, stepped to the line for the one-and-one. Make the first, he would have a second to win the game. But he only got the second if he made the first.

His shot clanked hard right.

After trailing for 39 minutes and 35 seconds of the 40 total minutes of game time, the Associates took a 75-74 victory, defending their home court and claiming the Double Aye championship trophy.