MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The Sho Stoppaz overcame the rest of the competition during the second 2010 All-Star Basketball Tournament at the IronWorks Gym here Aug. 28.
For the second consecutive time, the Sho Stoppaz and Fil-Am competed head-to-head for the All-Star Basketball championship.
Each team played a total of five games in the tournament. Each game consisted of two 20-minute periods with a five-minute halftime.
“Right now we are tired,” said Drevonn Fluellen, Fil-Am coach and point guard. “We have been playing like four backto- back games, but we’re going in with our eyes on the prize, and that’s to win the championship.”
After losing a game in the beginning of the tournament, Fil-Am had to fight from the losers’ bracket to compete for the championship, which meant playing four games back-to-back.
After defeating the Roc Boys 35–33, Fil- Am had a 20-minute break before going into the championship game against the Sho Stoppaz.
“Coming into the final game, we wanted to run Fil-Am because we knew they were tired just coming off of playing from the losers’ bracket,” said Darius Harpe, Show
Stoppaz coach. From the start of the championship game, both teams made a majority of their points by catching fast breaks and driving the ball to the hoop, but Harpe wasn’t happy with the Sho Stoppaz performance.
“I think part of the problem was that we came into the game overconfident thinking that we had already won, and it showed in our play,” said Harpe. “We had too many turnovers in the beginning.”
Fil-Am took advantage of these turnovers and continued to make successful layups to keep the score relatively close, but around halfway through the first half, the momentum seemed to change.
After Fil-Am received several personal fouls, the Sho Stoppaz made successful free throws and took a 20–17 lead.
With about 6 minutes left in the first half, the Sho Stoppers gained the momentum. Making successful passes and driving the ball, they took a bigger lead, extending the score 27–18.
Fil-Am decided to play lock-down defense and slow the game down to its tempo for the rest of the first half.
After gaining momentum and continuing to drive the ball, Fil-Am managed to tighten the score and come within 5 points 31– 26.
The Sho Stoppaz were able to hold on to the lead at the end of the half.
After halftime, the Sho Stoppaz stepped up their defense, maintaining a five-point lead throughout the first 3 minutes of the second half.
Fil-Am tried to match defenses but was unsuccessful in preventing personal fouls.
“Once we decided to play basketball and play a better defense, that’s what gave us the lead, and we held onto the win until the end,” said Harpe.
With 16:42 on the game clock, Steve Navar, Sho Stoppaz shooting guard, was fouled.
Making one of his two free throws, Navar brought the score to 37– 30.
With 12:12 on the clock, Navar caught a fast break and made a clean layup, extending the lead 39–30
Fil-Am called for a timeout with 11:44 on the game clock.
After the timeout, Fluellen was fouled making a layup and made the free-throw shot putting the score at 39– 33.
The Sho Stoppaz maintained a steady sixpoint lead until Fil-Am made two fast breaks with 3:30 left on the clock making it 43–39.
With 2:09 on the clock, Fluellen stole the ball and made another layup bringing the score to 43– 41.
The Sho Stoppaz continued their lock-down defense, made successful passes, completed layups and maintained a fourpoint lead until the last 30 seconds of the game.
With 3 seconds left on the game clock, Jimmie (Slim) King, Fil-Am power forward, dropped a threepointer, bringing the score to 51–48.
With one second on the game clock, Atonda Livingston, Sho Stoppaz small forward, was intentionally fouled and sent to the line.
He made both free throws to secure the win with a final score of 53–48.