Akira Komai Memorial NAU AA FinalsThe Returning
Paul Nitake (37) and Jarrod Carrol (91) battle for a loose ball in the NAU AA Finals.
The Nisei Athletic Union North vs. South State Championships took place on Sunday at Carson High School and provided those in attendance with three exciting games of hoops. In last year’s tournament, the Southern teams went up to San Francisco and only managed to squeeze out one victory. Home court certainly has its advantages as all three southern teams won out this year. This year, the North did not field a Double-A team, so Sunday also featured the Southern Section Double-A Championships.
By JORDAN IKEDA
Rafu Sports Editor
Last season, up north for the State Double A Tournament, the Quicksilver nearly won despite missing three of their key players. Adrienn Carroll, one of the vocal leaders on the team, enlisted his two brothers, Jarrod and Sean on a little mission that caused all three to miss the tournament.
He got married.
The Quicksilver celebrated Adrienne’s first year anniversary with a resounding 110-89 victory over the Tigers Red to defend their Akira Komai Memorial NAU AA Finals title Sunday.
“All three Carrols,” said Paul Nitake. “That was huge.”
How huge? Well, for these finals, Sean registered 12 points, 3 boards and 3 steals, Adrienn added 3 boards and a pair of thefts, and Jarrod dropped 36 points and tacked on 7 boards and 8 assists. A pretty big chunk of production.
On the other side, this was the third time in the past four years that the Tigers Red have made it to the championship game, only to come away with a loss
“We got to the game,” said Eric Chung who had 16 points, 3 assists and 3 boards for the Tigers. “We just haven’t gotten to our goal of winning it. Every year we get a little better, a little more mature basketball-wise. We didn’t play as well as we could have. If we play as well as we know we can, we’re as good anybody.”
While there’s plenty of talented players on the Tigers Red, I’m not sure anybody could have hung with the Quicksilver Sunday afternoon. The team shot 57 percent from the field and spread the rock with 22 assists. Vi Ly and Nitake combined for 39 points on 16-22 shots and Jarrod scored his total on an uber efficient 15-24.
“I give Quicksilver all the credit,” Chung said. “They shot lights out. When that happens, there’s nothing you can do.”
“I shoot a lot,” said Jarrod. “I should make all those shots. That’s how I feel. I put in the work, so it shouldn’t be that hard out there.”
The Tigers Red shot 43 percent from the field led by Sean Odou’s 28 points, 9 boards, 5 assists and 3 blocked shots. Mike Hamner added 20 points and 11 boards and Michael Reding stuffed the boxscore with 15, 8, 4, 2 and 2.
“A little more communications as far as rotating on defense,” said Odou. “Nothing we can’t fix. We know how to get here, we just need to know how to finish it.”
Perhaps they’ll get their chance again next year, although, an anniversary victory is a hard precedent to break. Especially if the Carrolls have anything to say about it.
AU State Championship: A Plus
Underdogs Bite
Derek Wong of Westside Athletics Lions drives the hoop against Brad Tsutsui of the Foster City Flyers in the A Major NAU State Championship game. (JUN NAGATA/Rafu Shimpo)
The Nisei Athletic Union North vs. South State Championships took place on Sunday at Carson High School and provided those in attendance with three exciting games of hoops. In last year’s tournament, the Southern teams went up to San Francisco and only managed to squeeze out one victory. Home court certainly has its advantages as all three southern teams won out this year. This year, the North did not field a Double-A team, so Sunday also featured the Southern Section Double-A Championships.
By JORDAN IKEDA
Rafu Sports Editor
The Foster City Flyers won the A Major North South Tournament last year on their home turf. Moving up a division, they found themselves with another shot at a title and another shot to continue to push division boundaries.
Unfortunately, what nearly undid their victory last year, trouble from the free throw line and a penchant for mental lapses down the stretch, caught up with them this go round as they fell to the Westside Athletics Lions 77-70. The Flyers shot 8-18 from the line and had 16 turnovers to only 15 assists.
“To be honest, we came in here and thought we were prepared,” said Bryan Takahara who led the Flyers with a double-double 16 points and 12 boards. “But I guess we weren’t there yet. Honestly, I feel that all of my teammates gave their heart out. The other team, they wanted it more than we did. You have to give it up to the LA team.”
The Lions looked the part of underdogs from the onset. They gave up a distinct height advantage getting killed on the glass 35-52, gave up muscle at nearly every position and didn’t have the benefit of a coach in their corner, especially one as accomplished and active as Foster City’s Brian Quon.
“We’re not the biggest guys around,” said Derek Wong who finished with 10 points and 4 steals. “We work hard, we wanted to win so bad. We have a lot of heart and I think that’s what carried us through today.”
The Flyers jumped out to an early lead, which they held for the first 15-minutes of the first half. That’s when the Lions went on a 16-5 run to close out the half and take a 3-point lead into the break. They came out firing in the second period, running their lead up as high as 13. The Flyers fought an uphill battle the rest of the game, getting as close as two points midway through, but could never find consistency on both offense and defense to overcome the lead.
“We haven’t really seen a zone, pretty much all year,” said Kenya Iwamoto, who struggled to find a rhythm going 1-15 from the field. “We’re a running team that gets a lot of buckets in transition, so the zone may have been key.”
The zone that the Lions employed throughout the game worked well against the Flyers, who, like their name indicates, score the majority of their points in transition, on the fly. The Lions limited Foster City to 42 percent from the field and forced them into 16 turnovers. They then rode Robert Reynolds’ hot hand to victory. Reynolds led all scores with 36 points and chipped in 7 boards and a pair of thefts for good measure.
“We picked up our defense in the second half. Got stops,” said Daniel Wong who had 10 points and 8 rebounds. “This will hopefully be our last season in A Plus. We’re going to have to put on a few pounds, some muscle. Hopefully we can add some height as well. But, for right now, we’re going to just enjoy the win.”
= = = =
For box scores, click here.
NAU State Championship: A Major
Everything But Drama
Roger Tanaka (11) of Tigers White dribbles around David Miura (13) while Eric Yasuda (20) looks on in the A Major NAU Championship game. (JUN NAGATA/Rafu Shimpo)
The Nisei Athletic Union North vs. South State Championships took place on Sunday at Carson High School and provided those in attendance with three exciting games of hoops. In last year’s tournament, the Southern teams went up to San Francisco and only managed to squeeze out one victory. Home court certainly has its advantages as all three southern teams won out this year. This year, the North did not field a Double-A team, so Sunday also featured the Southern Section Double-A Championships.
By JORDAN IKEDA
Rafu Sports Editor
The NAU A Major state championship game had almost everything. A three-point fireworks display in the opening minutes. A midcourt buzzer beater to end the first half. A technical that led to a foul-out. It even had a 7-point play.
What it lacked, however, was any real drama.
The game started out well enough for the Sacramento Samurai who hit five threes (would have been six but for a big toe over the line on one of the shots) to take an early 19-13 lead against the Tigers White.
Of course, as the saying goes, teams that live by the three, die by them as well. From that point forward, the Tigers continued to score, while the makes from beyond the arc dried up for the Samurai who ended the game shooting 11-37 from downtown.
“We just weren’t hitting our shots today,” said Marc Kato who went 0-5 from the field and missed his one freethrow attempt, but who did contribute 7 boards and 4 assists. “Overall it was a good tournament.”
The Tigers went on a 25-8 run to close out the first half capped off by a running half-court bank shot from Roger Tanaka that effectively canceled out a triple by the Samurai’s David Miura only seconds before. The basket turned what would have been an 8-point Tigers lead into an 11-point advantage heading into the break.
The Sacramento Samurai never recovered.
“Just effort more than anything,” said Tanaka when asked about his team’s mentality coming into the contest. “The whole year has been like that. If we play hard, we have a chance. We’re not the youngest team out there. We have to play together, play hard and rely on playing good defense.”
The Tigers’ defense stifled the Samurai holding them to only 16 points in the second half and 28 percent shooting overall.
“It was a good team effort,” said Nick Ito who stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals and a block in 32 minutes. “Everyone tried their hardest and it worked out.”
The most dramatic point of the game came late in the second, when Conlon Kwong, who paced the Samurai with 16 points, 4 boards, 3 steals and 2 blocks, was ejected after arguing his fourth foul and receiving a technical that due to NAU rules, counts as a personal.
That led to Paul Matsubara hitting four free throws (two for his shooting foul and two for the tech), the Tigers getting possession of the ball and then the rock promptly being swung back around to Matsubara for a three pointer—an extremely rare 7-point play.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” said Matsubara who scored 16 points and pulled down 5 boards. “It was just luck there.”
In all honesty, Kwong was hosed on a couple of other fouls early in the game, especially a blocking foul where he took the full force of the opponent square in the chest with his feet set. It noticeably affected his aggressiveness and the team started its slide shortly thereafter. To his credit, Kwong never hung his head.
Despite the insurmountable odds and his somewhat lame ejection late in the game, Kwong never left the sidelines cheering on his teammates.
“Just team ball,” he explained about his energy and will to keep encouraging his teammates. “Just trying to get
a good game in, even if it’s a loss. We’re definitely looking forward to next year…We’ll be back.”
Missed Freebies and Controlling the Glass
Justin Wong (31) of Big Dogs skies for the rebound, pulling it away from teammate Darby Okamoto (4) in the Big Dogs 53-49 victory over the Foster City Flyers in the A Minor NAU State Championship. (JUN NAGATA/Rafu Shimpo)
The Nisei Athletic Union North vs. South State Championships took place on Sunday at Carson High School and provided those in attendance with three exciting games of hoops. In last year’s tournament, the Southern teams went up to San Francisco and only managed to squeeze out one victory. Home court certainly has its advantages as all three southern teams won out this year. This year, the North did not field a Double-A team, so Sunday also featured the Southern Section Double-A Championships.
By JORDAN IKEDA
Rafu Sports Editor
The inability to hit freethrows down the stretch nearly cost the Big Dogs the NAU A Minor championship. Ironically, the inability to pull down a defensive rebound and capitalize on all of those Big Dog misses, cost the Foster City Flyers the game as the Big Dogs eked out a 53-49 victory.
The game was closely contested throughout and wasn’t decided until crunch time. Unfortunately, neither team stepped up to win it.
With 36 seconds to go and the score 49-48, the Bigs Dogs converted only 4-12 from the line. Ron Fukute had four shots at the stripe to put the game out of reach with less than 10 seconds. He clanked three of them and left his team with a slim 2-point lead. But he wasn’t the only one. As a team, the Big Dogs shot a groan-worthy 43 percent on 23 chances at the charity stripe.
“I don’t know what happened,” said Colin Yamashita who went 1-7 from the line in the closing 30 seconds. “My arms were just jelly.”
No doubt it was all the work he had to put in against Flyers lead guard Chris Seto who hounded Yamashita into shooting 3-12 from the field with 6 turnovers. This from a guy who dropped 16 and 22 points the previous consecutive weekends to help lead the Big Dogs into the championship round.
“I’m just happy that we won,” Yamashita said. “My performance wasn’t good, but that doesn’t matter.”
It wasn’t good because of Seto, who bodied him up, bumped and scrapped, contested everything and poked the ball free whenever Yamashita did get by him.
“I take every possession at a time,” said Seto when asked about his defensive performance. “If we score two points and shut our man down, we win. Today, it was a tough loss, but we played as a team, played hard, and came up short. That’s all we can do, we left it all out there.”
While he was only credited with four steals, Seto’s quick hands deflected countless balls and his defensive intensity was instrumental in sparking the Flyers running game. The Flyers forced 17 turnovers and held the Big Dogs to 37 percent from the field and took a 29-24 lead into the half. However, the Big Dogs switched to zone a few minutes into the second period and changed the makeup of the game.
“We weren’t hitting our shots as much as we were in the first half,” said Cliff Tanaka who led the Flyers with 20 points, but only scored 6 of them in the second half. “We’re a fast team and they slowed us down with the zone and obviously that got the worst of us.”
That, and the lack of rebounding. The Big Dogs, who held a noticeable size advantage, dominated the glass out-rebounding the smaller Foster City squad 44-29. Darby Okamoto had 10 caroms and Justin Wong added 14, none bigger than the 3 offensive boards he secured in the waning moments of the game.
“I just try to out-time the other guy and hope that he kind of mistimes it,” said Wong who was selected as the A Minor Tournament MVP. “It’s a big win. I don’t think I carried the team. I don’t think I had a very good game, but the other guys stepped up. We needed every single basket, so it was a team game.”
“We were very excited about the game,” Tanaka said about the Flyers trip to LA. “We came with high expectations. They’re a good team. We got what we expected.”
