Guardians boys finally get long-awaited win over Seoul American
Published: February 6, 2012
Yongsan International School-Seoul had its beginnings 22 years ago as International Christian School-Seoul, part of the Network of International Christian Schools. Something in the title must have been translated to read “Seoul American High School boys basketball team’s personal piñata.”
Never in its long history, not after converting to YIS-Seoul seven years ago, had the Guardians defeated the Falcons. In fact, seven years ago, the Falcons helped christen the new school by beating the Guardians by 60 points.
Until Friday. 45-39 at YIS-Seoul. Streak and a long piece of history over.
YIS-Seoul held all Falcons players except Tomiwa Akinbayo to four points or fewer (Akinbayo had 21), while holding SAHS as a team to 29-percent field goal shooting. Raymond Lee led three Guardians in double-figure scoring. Jon Bai just missed a double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds.
“It was certainly a team win,” coach Daniel Hale said of his 8-5 Guardians.
“We had a definite gameplan and we executed. We kept the turnovers low and took the right shots at the right time. Today, they fell. Our defense is solid. It has been all season. Our offense stepped it up. And our seniors really put team before themselves.”
The win, Hale said, goes out to “all the players who have come through the program and the coaches who have spent so much time developing this program.” One of them, Steve Epps, won a Far East Division II Tournament title in 2008 at the Guardians’ helm.
“God deserves the glory, and that’s where the boys want the glory to go,” Hale said.
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