Marine Far East Regional Basketball Day 5.0
Published: July 17, 2010
Simply put, the better team won Friday's Marine Corps Far East Regional Basketball Tournament. Emphasis on the word "team."
Although Terrence Terrell was named tournament Most Valuable Player and got selected to go to All-Marine tryout camp along with teammate Antonio Gibson, no one player really stood out on a 3rd Marine Logistics Group squad which won its first title since 2002, 77-49 over U.S. Naval Hospital Camp Lester.
If one player slumped, others were there to pick up the slack. If Marvin Shannon was cold from the field in the first half, Gibson (10 first-half points) and Willie Watts (11) were there to provide offensive microwaving. And defensively, 3rd MLG was relentless, using six steals to score 12 points in a 19-0 run over 7:10; 3rd MLG had 16 total steals, and held Hospital without a basket for 8:50.
"We couldn't keep up with their pace," Hospital coach Anthony Morris said.
3rd MLG's victory -- predicted at tournament's beginning by one Marine Corps Community Services Semper Fit Athletics official who said, "3rd MLG's the team to beat" -- kind of restored order to a tournament that saw, relatively speaking, a few oddities not seen in awhile.
For one, Marine Corps Base Camp S.D. Butler, which won the tournament in 2006 and '07 before losing the last three finals, exited quietly after going winless in pool play -- including Hospital's historic first-ever Far East Regional hoops victory -- and losing its playoff game to 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.
For another, there was Wing, exiting stage left after falling to 3rd MLG 66-62 in the semifinals. For Jelani Nix and Wing, there would be no bringing fourth the title.
There were some young, promising stars such as Andre Brown and Tony Moses of 3rd Marine Division/III Marine Expeditionary Force and offensive dynamo Cody Ryan of Base; talk about people who never saw a shot they didn't take (with apologies to Will Rogers).
And then, there was Hospital. What a breath of fresh air. Not only did the Corpsmen win two games, they became the first Hospital team since they began play in Far East Regionals in 1993 to reach the finals of one. Ever.
And how special it was to see Capt. Terry J. Moulton, USNH Camp Lester commanding officer, and his whole command staff -- and spouses! -- in attendance to cheer on their favourites. Now, that's command support. :)
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