Call Monday “Bonus Basketball Day.”
No fewer than five games went to overtime Monday, Day 1 of the Far East High School Basketball Tournaments, including a thrilling Boys Division I clash in which Guam High rallied from a 15-point third-quarter deficit, only to fall 62-57 to island-rival Okkodo.
“It came down to who executed at the end,” Panthers assistant coach Ben Leon Guerrero said by phone from Andersen Air Force Base after the heartbreaking defeat.
Guam High held the Bulldogs to one fourth-quarter basket, but then lost one player to fouls in overtime and the Panthers, already down two players due to illness, “got tired” toward the end “and Okkodo took advantage,” Leon Guerrero said.
In other Far East tournament extra-session contests:
Jacqueline Kelley netted 10 points and International School of the Sacred Heart of Tokyo edged Taiwan’s Morrison Academy 37-34 in a double-overtime game in the Girls Division II Tournament at Daegu, South Korea.In the same tournament, Momoko Ennis, Samantha Nauta and Jamie Cruz each scored 11 points and St. Paul Christian blanked Osan American in overtime to edge the Cougars 40-34.The Boys Division II Tournament also saw its share of bonus ball, as Jonathan Bai netted 19 points for Yongsan International-Seoul, which survived a Matthew C. Perry rally for a 41-36 win.And defending Boys Division I Tournament champion Kadena, having already lost earlier Monday 54-42 to Father Duenas Memorial, rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to edge American School In Japan 62-60 in one extra period.Other defending champions had a much easier go of it.
Sean Robinson averaged 12.5 points and two-time Boys D-II titlist Morrison Academy blew out E.J. King 53-13 and International Christian-Uijongbu 72-14 in two “mercy rule” pool-play games, leading tournament director Michelle Chandler to say Morrison would be a “handful” for anyone.
“They’re big, fast and pretty disciplined,” she said.
Seoul American’s girls also won twice via the “mercy rule” in Girls Division I play at Naval Base Guam. Jordan Elliott averaged 10.5 points in just over a quarter of play as the Falcons soared past Christian Academy Japan 53-12 and Kubasaki 42-9.
“They have some gifted athletes,” CAJ coach Carl Long said. “That starting five is a good core group. They have the fundamentals. They know how to play. They could give some boys teams a run for their money. I enjoyed watching them play.”
And Kristina Bergman averaged 17 points for Daegu American, reigning Girls Division II Tournament champions, who crushed Zama American 37-6 and rallied past Sacred Heart 31-22.