Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni -- IYAOYAS defeated Marine All Weather Attack Squadron 224 44-31 during the Spring Intramural Basketball Season at the IronWorks Gym here April 1.
Using teamwork and superior numbers, IYAOYAS was able to take the lead over VMFA (AW )-224 early in the game.
“It was all teamwork, strategy and a little practice,” said Keenan Roves, an IYAOYAS player. “Mostly it was teamwork and strategy.”
IYAOYAS dominated the court passing the ball from player to player, flying past the VMFA (AW )-224 players.
Refusing to be conquered so early in the game, VMFA (AW )-224 did its best and was able to keep the score neck in neck with IYAOYAS for the first half of the game.
Despite VMFA (AW )-224’s efforts to gain control of the ball, the IYAOYAS got the upper hand and were able to close out the first half with a score of 21-17.
“I can just say they out ran us,” said Maxwell Blaetz a VMFA (AW )-224 player. “They beat us to the ball every time, but we put up a good fight.”
After the first half of the game, the IYAOYAS came out strong, quickly taking a 10-point lead over VMFA (AW )-224.
Wanting to get out of the rut, VMFA (AW )-224 scored a few times to come within five points of IYAOYAS only to be rejected and defeated in the end.
IYAOYAS won the game by using teamwork and its superior numbers. IYAOYAS outnumbered VMFA (AW )-224 players by approximately 2-to-1.
For the number of players VMFA (AW )-224 had on its team, the team played pretty well, said Roves.
VMFA (AW )-224, coming out of a recent loss and having to overcome a team with greater numbers, was still able to play a good game.
“In the last game we got annihilated,” said Blaetz. “Today we actually came out with our heads a little higher and we actually played a great game.”
While both teams agreed it was a good game, both had skills they felt they could improve on.
For the next game, VMFA (AW )-224 needs more players and needs to work on slowing its tempo down to last longer, said Blaetz.
IYAOYAS needs to improve on moving the ball around the court by passing and cutting back on some of the fouls committed during the game, said Roves.
“Compared to the other games, this game was pretty decent,” said Roves.