Niveal Pastrama, Toronto Dragons (Womens Open MVP)
Angie Leung, Toronto Dragons
DJ Liu, NY Sabres
Melissa Belonia, Philly Old School
Kim Moro-Williams, Philly Old School
Tracy Ng, NY Lady Cruisers
Sandy Yu, Philly Lady Suns
Jenny Chen, NY CASE Phoenix

This winter's event in the Boys 18's divison was pretty darn competitive. Pool J ended up being rough and tumble for those 3 teams, as each team went 1-1 and seedings came down to who beat who, and by how much. In the end, the Suns 18 came out first, followed by the Flights A team. The Young Life Rockits actually beat the Suns 18 in a great comeback victory in the morning's first game, but they ended up in the consolation round due to the time honored NACBA tiebreakers. In Pool JJ, NY USAB coasted to their first place finish, while the NY ISS Flights B edged out Washington CYC 18's to advance to the Semis. In the Consolation game, the young Rockits salvaged a little bit of pride and took an upset win over the older and more tournament tested CYC 18's 31-20. Steve Wong led NYC with 10 points and 3 rebounds, while martial arts king Phillip Lee paced DC with 7, all in the first half.

In the Semis, the big game that everyone was crowding around to see was the Flights A v/s USAB 18 in a rematch of last year's NACBAIT 18 & Under Semifinals. Over the past few years, ISS has come out of nowhere to become a real contender. They have done this by taking some of their own home grown talent, power infused it with some top notch players from rival Big Apple programs, and used smart coaching to come up with a gameplan that best plays to these players' strengths. At least so far this year, things are looking good for the ISS Flights program, as they took home the Asianhoops Gimme 5 Chip back in October. Meanwhile, USAB is still up to their usual plan. They always seem to recruit top shelf ballers from across their region, and mix them in with a good amount of role players to produce a team that has been the favorite at the Nationals each of the past 3 years. So when these 2 teams met up in the Semis here in Philly, all eyes were on this game to see who would advance. Although USAB was missing a few big time statmonsters this weekend, the guys who did show up still managed to put up a fight. New point guard Joe Chin (5 assists, 2 TO's) can really play the game, as he's got the court awareness and the quickness to compete with anyone, Aaron Phan (14 pts, 2 treys, 2-2 FT, 2 assists) puts points in the book, and big Osman Ip (6 pts, 4-5 FT, 2 blocks) has improved substantially in the past few months. The game's tempo was being played at USAB's pace, but as the game wore on the issue became team depth as ISS' deeper bench allowed them to substitute without skipping a beat. With many of USAB's role players forced into roles they don't normally occupy, the Flights took advantage. Former USAB'er William Hu had a solid second half to score 8 of his 12 points, and Jason Wu had 15 points and 2 assists to seal the win for ISS A 34-25 in a game that was much closer than the score indicated. On the other side of the bracket, it was the rebuilding Suns 18 v/s the surprisingly talented Flights B. The Suns have lost a lot of players from their roster since last year's NACBAIT, and they can't just run lesser teams off the court like they did the past 2 years. With depth and athleticism being a problem, the Suns are just not the same full court running, trapping, pressing, and skilled team. The Flights B is a combination of some veteran guys who could play on the Flights A team, and a few newer faces. But these kids can still compete with the other teams out there, and they can shoot the rock. The Flights B really came out ready for the challenge, as they surprised the Suns by sinking a bunch of outside jumpers on offense, and then closed off all the penetration lanes on defense. Forward Da Shi Ho looked great, tallying 10 points and 4 rebounds for ISS. Halftime score was 16-13 NYC. In the second half the Suns started to play with more confidence, and got to the basket for layups and free throws. The best 6th man in the tournament Tuan Tang scored 12 after intermission and snatched 11 rebounds in the second half. De Lin (10 points, 4 blocks) also was on his game, as the Suns put it away 36-29.

The Finals was a deja vu pool play game, as the ISS Flights A squared off with the Suns 18. The Suns fully controlled the pool play version, taking an easy 10 point win on the late arriving Flights A. This time, all onlookers had the expectation of an intense rivalry game that would be a great finale to the day's action. These teams have met on more than one occassion over the past few years, and the Suns 18 have always come out on top. Philly used to run roughshod all over the Flights, but the last few matchups have been nothing short of sensational. Instead, what we got this time was a disappointing game from the Suns 18. Absolutely nothing fell for Philly in the first 7 minutes. Score was 11-0 NY, as the Suns were getting good looks against the Flights zone but the shots just weren't dropping in the hoop. Philly even had quite a few transition opportunities where they simply turned the ball over or missed semi contested layups. NY on the other hand had no such issue. All-Tourney 6-3 Center George Tang (12 points, 4 blocks, 2 assists) was as dominant as he ever been, Fed Ex'ing a couple swats all the way back to China, and finishing around the hoop like no one was guarding him. Peter Mei (5 assists, 3 steals, 7 points, MVP) handled the Suns pressure very well, just as he should, alternately dishing and swishing to keep Philly guessing. Halftime score was 19-7 NY. In the second half, it looked like the NY ISS Flights A got stronger as the game wore on, while the Suns needed some Red Bull. The fast break offense, the halfcourt offense, the rebounding, everything just got better and better. Even as the Flights emptied their bench, the lead continued to grow. NY ISS Flights A absolutely manhandled the Philly Suns 18 in the Finals 49-18. Much congratulations to the Flights A their inspired performance in honor of their mentor and coach Anthony Yeung. This was their first Philly Chip and certainly won't be their last.

Pool J: Phila Suns 18 1-1, NY ISS Flights A 1-1,NY Young Life Rockits 1-1.
Pool JJ: NY USAB 18 2-0, NY ISS Flights B 1-1, Washington CYC 18 0-2.

Peter Mei, NY ISS Flights A (Boys Juniors 18 & Under MVP)
George Tang, NY ISS Flights A
Tuan Tang, Phila Suns 18
Joe Chin, NY USAB 18
Dashi Ho, NY ISS Flights B
Eddie Zhang, NY Young Life Rockits
Jason Lee, Washington CYC 18

The future is now. With 4 teams taking part in this division, and the perimeter of the court packed with friends, families, and gawkers, this was definitely an exciting day of action for these rookie baby ballers. After pool play, the 3rd and 4th seeded teams met up for a Consolation game. In that game, the Philly Suns 16 avenged an earlier defeat at the hands of the NY Falcons with a 23-20 win. Tommy Le (All-NACBAIT 2007 in 18 & Unders) scored 18 of Philly's 23 points. The Falcons were led by Daren Tang's 7 points, and Andy Chan's 6 points/5 rebounds. In the title game, the #1 NY Chinatown Life Rockits and the #2 NY USAB 16's squared off in a rematch of the 2007 NACBAIT 15 & Under Championship. Pool play had been an 11 point game in favor of the Rockits. This USAB team is a young group, composed mostly of kids who will be the core of their USAB 15 & Under team come NACBAIT 2008. This Rockits team had the clear edge in experience, but from the opening tap, it looked like coach Bill Chan had his USAB boys more prepared to play than the Rockits. Despite a couple injuries and cramping issues to some key players, USAB dominated the first half with a 17-9 lead. 14 year old Greg Hsu and 15 year old Eric Wong were putting points on the board, and the Rockits had no answer. But after halftime, it was an entirely different story. Coach Kevin Low (NACBA Top 25 of all-time) knows a thing or two about hoops, and so does NACBAIT Co-Chair Denny Lee. At halftime, they must have said something to get a fire started in the belly of these young Rockits of the future. It was night and day, as full court ball pressure came out of nowhere and the score was tied at 17-17 within a few minutes. Then a drought hit the teams like the Sahara Desert. For at least 8 minutes, neither team scored. The court was full of young kids running all over, diving onto each other, and playing as hard as they could. It was pretty intense. But scoring baskets were just not in the cards for them as they wouldn't have been able to throw a rock in the ocean. The Rockits finally broke the drought as pg Jimmy lau sank a jumper. The score then was tied up again after Chris Yim scored the only points of the second half for USAB. It was now 19-19. Both teams had their chances but neither was able to capitalize on anything. The Rockits called timeout and set up a play to get MVP shooter Cheuk Wong a shot on the baseline. Cheuk chucked one up and nailed a threeball with only 2 ticks to go. USAB called their final timeout to set up a Hail Mary play, but the play fell a few feet short of the goal and the Rockits danced around to celebrate their win 22-19. Nice job on an amazing comeback, as the Rockits held USAB to only 2 points in the second half. Great job to both teams, as this is only a sign of things to come.

Pool 16: NY Chinatown Life Rockits 3-0, NY USAB 16 2-1, NY Falcons 1-2, Phila Suns 16 0-3.

Cheuk Wong, NY Chinatown Life Rockits (Boys 16 & Under MVP)
Kenny Yu, NY Chinatown Life Rockits
Kevin Chang, NY USAB 16
Tommy Le, Philly Suns 16
Jesse Lee, NY Falcons

This is strictly a recreational type division, but that didn't mean that it wasn't intense. Pool Play games were decided by an average of only 2.3 points, meaning those competitive juices were flowing pretty good. In reality, any one of the 6 teams could have come in first, or come in last. It was all a matter of putting it together at the right time. Following pool play, the top 2 teams from each pool advanced to the playoffs, while the 3rd place teams met for a Consolation game. In the Consolation round, USP Alumni looked like they were gunna rock the socks off of the Philly Saints, as Josh Chun (15 pts, 4 steals) and Allen Lee (8 pts, 2-7 ft's, 3 assists) were pretty dominant for USP in the first half. Halftime score was 23-14 USP. In the second half, USP let their guard down a bit and the Saints stepped it up. A few 3's by Steve Mei, Chung Siu, and Andrew Tsang got them right back in the mix. Andrew Wong got going, and it was a game again. After USP went cold from the free throw line (7-19), the Saints were thinking they could pull off an improbable miracle. But it wasn't meant to be, as Simon Wong and Tai Do came up big in the lane for USP. USP took home the trophy 39-36.

In the Semis, the undefeated Philly Suns Senior met up with the Rutgers RC3 team, led by John Hsu. Both teams came out as cold as ice. The Seniors did find a little bit of rhythm by hitting a couple layups, but Rutgers unbelievably missed every single shot they took from the field- that's right- every single shot. Halftime score was 8-1 Philly. That definitely set the record for worst offensive production in a half. In the second half, Rutgers did catch a bit of flow as G Andrew Yang started to get his stats back to where they should be- but the Seniors played old-man ball and passed the ball round and round. Rutgers had to send the Seniors to the line, and everyone knows that old guys always hit their free throws (9-10 in the second half). The Suns Seniors won 20-15 and marked their calendar with the Championship game. The next game was the Delaware Weekend Warriors v/s Philly Lightyear Studio. Lightyear had the game in their grasp and a 4 point lead, until Brian Thomas (9 pts, 7 caroms) made 2 strong drives and Pao Seng (6 pts, 2 assists) rattled in a long, long 3. After that, Lightyear started to come undone as they began to rush their offense and take bad shots. Turnovers and team discord compounded the problem, and Delaware seized a 14-9 halftime lead as they didn't have to look back. Lightyear played more aggresively in the second period and put Delaware on the line early. Delaware hit 12 of 20 after intermission, and Lightyear simply could not grab a rebound against the bigger Weekend Warriors for any second chance opportunities. Delaware 37, Phila Lightyear 28.

The Finals game between the undefeated Suns Senior and the Delaware Weekend Warriors provided us with a good game early on. Delaware held a slim 11-10 edge at the half, as the Seniors controlled the tempo and made Delaware play halfcourt basketball. In the second half, Delaware decided to show no mercy and came out to play their brand of speedy hoops. For the longtoothed Senior Suns, there was just no way they could keep up with the younger Delaware team, especially since they were playing their 4th game of the day. MVP Kenny Ho (16 pts, 11 rebounds, 4 steals) was completely dominant, sinking 3's, finishing tough penetration moves, grabbing all the rebounds, and swishing his ft's. Jet Deleste then came on for additional support as he scored 5 in the second half to propel Delaware to an easy 34-16 Championship win. John Man had 4 for Philly and Scott Tran also added 7 pts/4 rebounds. Great job and props to the Delaware Weekend Warriors.

Pool F: Delaware Weekend Warriors 1-1, Rutgers RC3 1-1, USP Alumni 1-1.
Pool FF: Phila Suns Senior 2-0, Phila Lightyear Studio 1-1, Phila Saints 0-2.

Kenny Ho, Delaware Weekend Warriors (Mens Friendship MVP)
Zhi Zhao, Phila Suns Senior
Johnny Choi, Phila Lightyear Studio
Andrew Yang, Rutgers RC3
Roger Liu, USP Alumni
Steve Mei, Phila Saints

The Mens Open Division featured 6 teams, divided into 2 pools of 3 teams each. Following Pool Play, all 6 teams advanced to the playoffs. In the first round, NY TLCipag left early due to fears of an impending snowstorm up in New York, so they ended up forfeting their matchup with the Philadelphia Suns A. The Suns gladly took the free win, as they were fearful of TLCipag's ability to knock off anyone at any given time. The other first round matchup was the Suns College v/s Virginia Supernova. Supernova was definitely super as they were getting impossible shots to fall through the hoop. The young Suns are a new team, featuring a couple players off of last year's Suns 18 team, a couple familiar faces who have been with the organization for years, some guys off of last year's Suns B squad, and a bunch of completely inexperienced rooks. This group has some talent but they couldn't put it together against a more seasoned Viriginia team. In the first half newbie PG Minh Tran (11 pts, 2 TO's) was able to keep Philly in reach, as he sank 3 treyballs. Nevertheless, Va held a 20-16 lead midway through as Kyu Choi (13 pts, 3 assists) consistently penetrated into the lane to create scoring chances for himself and his teammates. Virginia maintained their cushion for most of the second half but Philly put together one final run that fell short by a deuce and Va moved forward to the semis 32-30.

Up next was a big Semifinal game between the Suns A and the NY Rockits U. The Suns A team was really hot from the outside in the early going as they swung the ball around to open shooters. When Summer League legend Richmond Huynh popped a triple, the Suns had a 15-6 lead. But the Rockits tightened up the D and pulled to 18-13 by halftime. The game was anyone's for the taking as the score see-sawed early in the second half. But 3 consecutive turnovers by the Philly guards sealed their fate. The Rockits took advantage as Eric Ouyang (13 pts, 3 treys, 2 steals) went crazy from long distance to get his team out in front. NY never again trailed, but they almost gave the game away from the free throw line as they only hit 8-22 in the game. Philly wasn't able to capitalize, and NY advanced 33-28 to the Chip. The other semifinal was a pool play rematch of Washington CYC B and Virginia Supernova. In the sneak preview, CYC had taken a 48-34 win. This time around, both teams played a slower game. Virginia played slow because they were tired, Washington played slow because they wanted to save some energy. At the half, the score was only 13-11 with CYC B holding the lead. That low scoring output surely didn't impress anyone watching. In the second half, CYC upped the pace a bit and started to pull away thanks to Steve Lee's best Ben wallace impersonation (12 points, 5-7 FG's, 11 rebounds, 4 steals) as he was hustling all over the court. CYC came away with a 34-21 win. Scott Yang and He Fang each chipped in with 6 for Supernova.

The Finals matchup was a game pitting the 2 undefeated teams, at 3-0. These teams are pretty much the same age and have been squaring off since they were young bucks playing in the 18 & Under division. The game started off pretty physical and neither squad could find the rim. Throw in some stupid turnovers at both ends, and it was no surprise that the score was only 5-1 DC after 9 minutes. By halftime, the Rockits had managed to take a 9-8 lead in one of the lowest scoring games ever witnessed. This game could have gone either way given a few more lucky bounces. The Rockits came out of the break ready for battle. Ian Yu hit a teardrop, Tim Chin scored on a post move taking it strong to the bucket, Ian Yu drew a courageous charge call, and Victor Ng sank a triple to give NY a 6 point lead. CYC was forced to call timeout to figure out some ways to get into a better offensive groove. CYC stopped taking a zillion 3-pointers and started going to the rack off pick and roll sets. The strategy worked and CYC was up 20-18 with 7 minutes left. The Rockits had to start putting Washington on the line early as CYC was killing the clock with their spread offense, and CYC hit 11-14 in the second half (14-17 overall). Washington CYC B eventually pulled away for a 36-28 championship win. Eric Ouyang, Victor Ng, and Ian Yu all had 6 for NYC. Washington CYC B's MVP was guard Martin Hsieh (6 points, 3 assists) thanks to his ability to handle the high pressure Rockits defense.

Pool O: NY Rockits U. 2-0, Philly Suns College 1-1, NY TLCipag 0-2.
Pool OO: Washington CYC B 2-0, Philly Suns A 1-1, Virginia Supernova 0-2.

Martin Hsieh, Washington CYC B (Mens Open MVP)
Steve Lee, Washington CYC B
Ian Yu, NY Rockits U
Emil Buccilli, Philly Suns A
Kyu Choi, Virginia Supernova
Michael Chau, Philly Suns College
Mario Salazar, NY TLCipag

10 teams registered for this division, held on December 15th at Fels High School. Round Robin highlights included an exciting rivalry game between the Phila Suns A and the Philly FACAA Ronin squad. FACAA Ronin was looking good in the first half, as they received a strong inside game from Louis Hortaleza (6 boards, 4 points) and Butch Sanchez (2 points, 3 rebs, 1 block), as well as a scorching outside game from SF Arzy Dazon (11 points, 2 triples). The Suns managed to come from behind in the final 8 minutes as Emil Buccilli (22 pts, 11 rebs, 4 steals) and PF Quoc Tran (2 points, 4 assists) ran the 1-4 set to perfection against the Ronin man D. Other good games included 1) the CYC-Rockits showdown where Ming Wang terrorized the scoreboard for the Rockits, as he confidently sank five 3-pointers to lead his team to a 10 point win 55-45, and 2) the USP Alumni-Maryland All-Stars game where the All-Stars got behind in the first half but then staged a ferocious comeback attempt that fell short in the second half as USP sank from the charity stripe to keep their record perfect. Following pool play, 8 teams advanced to playoffs based on win % and point differential.

In the quarters, the Maryland All-Stars fell behind by 16 points to the Philly Suns A. But amazingly, the All-Stars were able to hang in there and come back. PG Chris Ramsey (20 pts, 5 assists, 2 rebs) hit 2 deep three's, and versatile big man Paul Yi (16 pts, 2 3's, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 5-5 ft) showed us a bit of his inside-out repertoire: popping jays, posting up, and hitting the offensive glass. In an instant, it was a game again and Maryland had all the momentum. With Big Fu not 100% due to a recent ankle sprain, and with the Suns team playing some shockingly lazy defense, Maryland pulled a rabbit out of their hat and escaped 57-54. Quoc Tran paced Philly with 11 points and 8 rebs. In the other gym, Washington CYC A was playing a "gimme" game against a Philly Suns team that combined the B College team and some young 18 & Unders. On paper it looked to be an easy game, but with CYC (only 5 guys for this game as some players had to leave early, make loverboy trips to drop chick friends off at the airport, coach other teams, or not ariving yet due to traffic) trying to pace themselves for the long road ahead, the Suns looked like they might have a shot. At halftime it was only 27-20 Washington, but in the beginning of the second half, the young Philly boys came on with a concentrated effort to get back in the game. They made Washington work for every basket, and then shot out like jet cannons on the fast break. Li Wayne Fung (14 points, 6 steals) was great on the break, outdistancing everyone else down the court. Minh Tran swished 6 3's for the game. With 11 minutes to go, Philly was only down by 1. CYC got serious and pulled away as Bobby Hsieh (19 points, 3 assists) and Henry Chow (4 points, 12 rebounds) settled things down for CYC. CYC sank 19-19 free throws in the game, to put the W in their column 56-48. Up next was a matchup between the Rockits AIA and Philly FACAA Ronin. Throughout the game, the Rockits maintained a solid 8-10 point lead and Ronin had no answer for a balanced NY attack. Young All-Tourney pg Rudy Santos held his own against the Rockits physical and speedy guards, and Alex Santos gave Philly FACAA a little bit of scoring punch but the Rockits had this game wrapped up the whole way as they advanced to the Semis with ease in a 14 point win. The last contest of the QF Round was the undefeated USP Alumni and the winless Suns College A. Although the Suns College A team was missing a few key ingredients this game due to injury/absence, they stayed focus on the task at hand. USP meanwhile, went out to lunch and arrived back at the gym only 10 minutes before their game started. With their bursting bellies chock full of KFC snackers and Vietnamese hoagies, they just couldn't get on track. Diminutive 16 yr old guard Jeffrey "Mini" Yu was great on the defensive side for Philly, as he hassled the USP guards each trip up the court. Had it not been for about 7-8 missed layups by the Suns College big men in the first half, the game would have been an early blowout. Instead, it was only 22-19 Philly. In the second half, USP stirred from their food coma and started to work the ball around to get good looks. The USP teamwork paid off, as they seized a 27-22 lead with 13 minutes to play, and the little Suns didn't drop anything into the rim. Philly called timeout, and went to their patented chaotic defensive scheme. It worked, as the USP turnovers mounted in the frenzy. With 8 minutes to go, the score was 39-30 Suns College A. After Josh Chun went down with an ugly ankle sprain for USP, it all looked to be over. But USP was able to claw back in the game by grinding it in to their bigs to take advantage of a more refined inside game. With the score tied and under 3 minutes to go, Josh Chun (19 pts, 8-9 FT) pulled a Willis Reed and re-entered the game. His steady play and clutch FT shooting kept the momentum going USP's way. Andrew Young (All-Tourney, 15 pts, 8 rebs, 4 steals, 3 TO's) took it to the rack to tie it up for Philly. With time winding down below the 40 second mark, bigman Simon Wong (9 pts, 5 rebs, 3 blocks) showed his clutchability as he (un?)intentionally banked in a 3 from the top of the key, and followed that up moments later by swishing 2 FT's to advance. USP 52-Suns College A 49.

In the semifinals, the NY Rockits AIA and USP Alumni were meeting up in a battle of undefeateds. But USP (5th game of the day) was playing a back to back game and they just didn't have the legs to hang with the more athletic and in shape Rockits. Toss in Bill Hang's pulled back muscle and Josh Chun's bloated ankle, and the game turned into what you would expect. It was nasty once the game got under way. Ming Wang continued his torrid shooting, dropping 6 3-pointers, on his way to 21 points and 3 rebounds. Chris Chin also added 12 points, 4 rebs, and 1 steal to give the Rockits a convincing 61-32 win. Simon Wong had 8 points and 3 fouls for USP. The other Semifinal was Washington CYC and the Maryland All-Stars. Though both teams hail from the same general region, this was the first meeting between these 2 teams in possibly forever. CYC came out in a 2-3 defense and dared the All-Stars to bomb away from the outside. The strategy worked as Maryland only hit 1 of 12 3's in the first half. Swingman Kwan Huynh (19 pts, 3 triples, 2 boards), meanwhile, was lighting it up from threeballville on the other hoop. CYC took a 28-15 lead. In the second half, the All-Stars started to hit as Hyng Wool Lee (8 pts, 5 rebs, 1 assist), Chris Ramsey (7 pts, 2 swipes), and Paul Yi (11 pts, 6 caroms, 1 steal, 1 rejection) all started to get in on the action. But by then, Washington was clicking on offense and had a lead to play with. And with the late arriving Jeffrey Lee coming to town, there was no way that CYC was going to lose this one. Final score- CYC 50, Md All Stars 38.

The Championship game was pretty much what everyone expected- a pool play rematch between the Rockits and CYC, that the Rockits had won by 10. This time around, the Rockits had the advantage of a game's rest, while Washington had played the back-to-back game. The Rockits had obliterated the competition each game so far in the day by an average of 24 ppg, so they were really looking like the solid favorite. The only wild card that CYC held in their pocket was that they didn't have the benefit of Jeffrey Lee's wizardry in the first contest, as a last minute work assigment and some horrible traffic delayed his arrival until the Semis. The game started off with the Rockits catching CYC napping on defense, as consecutive cherry picks by quick Jarvis Miu (13 pts, 3-5 FT, 2 steals, 1 TO) and smooth Chris Chin (6 pts, 3 rebs, 2 steals) gave AIA a 4-0 lead. Things were pretty rough in the first half, with the bodies scrambling and sliding all over the court and refs letting the players play a little. CYC was able to regain control, as G Jeffrey Lee and F Sook Phommasask each dropped in 7 first half points to garner an 18-16 lead right before the half ended. But right before the clock hit 0:00, new Rockits face Dave Chu hit nothing but net for a dramatic 3 point buzzer beater to give the Rockits a 19-18 lead. That big shot really got the Rockits headed in the right direction as they opened up the second half by taking it right at Washington. NY was able to capture a 10 point lead within the first few minutes. For CYC it was a bunch of one and done rushed 3 point shots, while the Rockits worked the ball for good shots. The Rockits maintained an 8-10 point lead up until there were 3 and a half minutes remaining. The Rockits had been working the ball around all half for open shots, but then went to a stall offense. The stall offense led to turnovers as they were hardly even looking for shots. Each turnover led to a quick 3 or layup by Washington, and against CYC you have to guard the 3ball. CYC was suddenly down by 2 and Rockits center Kevin Low was on the line for a one and one. The usually automatic Kevin missed the shot but was crafty enough to figure out a way to grab his own long rebound. He then was fouled and sank 1 of 2 in the double bonus. Down by 3, CYC was then behind by 1 following 2 FT's by Kwan Huynh (8 pts, 2-2 FT, 3 rebs) as a result of a drive to the hoop. That was followed up by 2 Jarvis Miu FT's, and Washington was back down by 3. Washington called timeout to set up one last play with 8 seconds to play. After Bobby Hsieh gathered up some gumption and registered a trifecta from 5-6 feet behind the line, the score was all tied up at 46. Overtime. Rockits controlled the tap. For the first few possessions, no one scored as each team was holding for that one perfect shot. After a good look that just rimmed out for NY, Washington had the ball and 58 ticks to go. CYC was in almost this exact situation at Chinese Nationals 2007 in Arizona, and they learned a lot from the situation. Under a minute + score tied = get the ball into the hands of your scorer and then get a really good shot. Kwan Huynh got an isolation on Kevin Low (9 rebounds, 1 block) on the right wing. He made a pump fake for the 3, drove to the baseline, faked to the basket, and shot a 10 footer as he leaned into the NYC center, and looked for the foul call. Kevin played great defense on the play and kept his arms straight up so the refs didn't call any foul. The ball went off the front rim and NY gathered it in. They went down, and had a great look for a 3 but it missed as CYC got the board. CYC star guard Jeffrey Lee (16 points, 3 3's, 2 rebounds, 8 assists) had the ball on the left wing with 32 seconds. He beat his man and almost got to the rim but just as he was about to go up for a layup, everything collapsed around him thanks to great help side and he had to kick it out to Sook Phommasask (10 pts, 9 rebs, 2 TO's) standing alone deep in the left baseline corner. The whole gym went silent and everyone held their breath as the streaky Sook set his feet and released the ball for a possible 3-pointer. Front rim, back rim, and then it fell through to grant Washington a 49-46 lead. That was one of those shots where his teammates say, "NO NO NO NO..... YES!" NY wisely got the ball into the hands of Ming Wang who had been raining 3balls all day long. Bobby Hsieh of CYC realized this and went to try to foul him to stop him from shooting a 3 pointer that could tie the game. As soon as Ming heard the whistle, he looked like a genius as he flailed his arms and chucked the ball in the direction of the rim. The zebras then determined it would be 3 shots instead of 2, as they deemed him to be in the act of shooting to the dismay of Washington. He missed the first and then sank the last 2, so it put the Rockits down by 1. CYC inbounded to Jeff Lee, who found Bobby Hsieh (11 pts, 2-2 FT, 3 triples, 2 rebounds) streaking down the court. The Rockits AIA grabbed Bobby to put him on the line. Bobby stepped to the line with composure, and nailed both to give Washington a 3 point cushion. The Rockits called timeout to set up a play. When play resumed, the long distance prayer bounced off the backboard and CYC realized they had dodged some bullets in coming back from 10 points with less than 4 minutes remaining. Hats off to both teams on a well played and exciting game.

Pool A: Phila Suns A 3-1, Phila FACAA Ronin 2-2, Philly Suns College B 2-2, Phila Suns College A 0-3.
Pool B: NY Rockits AIA 2-0, Washington CYC A 1-1, Philly Stevemei 0-2.
Pool C: USP Alumni 3-0, Maryland All-Stars 2-1, NY USAB Warriors 0-2.

Sook Phommasask, Washington CYC A (Mens Open Elite Co-MVP)
Bobby Hsieh, Washington CYC A (Mens Open Elite Co-MVP)
Jeffrey Lee, Washington CYC A
Kevin Low, NY Rockits AIA
Ming Wang, NY Rockits AIA
Paul Yi, Maryland All-Stars
Simon Wong, USP Alumni
Jeffrey Yu, Phila Suns College A
Andrew Young, Phila Suns College A
Li Wayne Fung, Philly Suns College B
Rudy Santos, Phila FACAA Ronin

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