Things learned, observed on Day 3 of ASIJ Holiday Classic basketball tournament
Published: December 19, 2011
Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer senses that the race for Kanto Plain basketball title space will absolutely go through Mustang Valley this season:
Teams that hadn’t faced each other were supposed to square off on Sunday, the final day of the three-day American School In Japan Holiday Classic boys basketball tournament.
For Sunday's Holiday Classic results and photos, click here.
Well, it didn’t turn out that way. While the championship game paired American School In Japan vs. Yokota, simply how the cards fell, it turned out all four games featured rematches of earlier games in the tournament.
“It just didn’t work out,” tournament organizer Brian Kelley, ASIJ’s first-year athletics director said.
I’ve heard any number of reasons why Matchup Sunday ended up looking like Repeat Sunday, on paper. I’ve heard from many “glass-is-half-empty” circles that the format wasn’t popular with the coaches, and one or two mentioned they would not return next year.
From the “glass-is-half-full” author of this post, figure it this way, campers: ASIJ was willing and able to put on a tournament, whatever the format. Everybody got five games in three days. For most, it was their first tournament experience of the season. Kadena, Kubasaki and Yokota made up for the six games they lost when they couldn’t attend the Hong International School Holiday Tournament last month. We got to see Canadian Academy, playing some of the teams for the first time ever, others for the first time in 16 years.
In my conversations with Kelley, he’s firm in his conviction that next year, Matchup Sunday will be just that, matchups of teams that did not face each other earlier in the tournament.
Now, as to Matchup-Repeat Sunday, it in fact became Turnabout Sunday … well, at least the first three games, which featured reverse outcomes from the first time the teams met in the tournament:
-- Canadian Academy 32, St. Mary’s International 31: The Titans thoroughly thrashed the Falcons 63-35 the day before in divisional play; in the rematch, St. Mary’s raced to a 12-5 first-quarter lead before CA blanked the Titans 16-0 in the second quarter. Down the stretch, the teams traded turnover after turnover before the Falcons managed to hang on in the end.
-- Kubasaki 67, Zama American 42: Did the teams have or not have an agreement to engage in a rematch of the Trojans’ 77-74 double-overtime win in Friday’s pool play? Whatever the case, the Dragons more than made up for their last-second loss on Friday, scoring 15 straight points and holding Zama scoreless for 4:45, and led by as many as 27 down the stretch.
-- Kadena 63, Nile C. Kinnick 36, third-place game: Totally different outcome from the Red Devils’ 51-47 tournament-opening victory on Friday. Kinnick went 8:10 without scoring and Kadena poured in 20 straight points to rally from an early 12-7 deficit. The Panthers led by as many as 34 with 2:30 left.
-- American School In Japan 69, Yokota 47, championship: The only result that held true to an earlier matchup. The Mustangs pounded the Panthers 65-27 in Friday’s pool play, but the script changed dramatically in the first half, at least, of Sunday’s final. The lead changed eight times and the score was tied four times before Sam Hopkins of ASIJ took over in the third quarter, scoring 16 points on 7-for-7 shooting and finishing with 28 points. Warren Manegan kept Yokota in it in the first half, scoring 18 of his 21 points, including five three-pointers.
Looking ahead to the future, the tournament has a chance to return to its roots next Christmas break. It began in January 2007, just after the New Year. Christmas break begins on Dec. 21 next year, and school resumes Jan. 7, 2013. The tournament can easily be scheduled for Jan. 2-4, 2013, with the new Christmas Classic for girls the week before, Dec. 26-28. Recommend ASIJ and Yokota trade up tournaments, with Mustang Valley hosting the girls and Capps Gym the boys. I’m sure Kelley and Yokota athletics director Tim Pujol will be talking in the run-up to next year’s tournaments.
