Robert D. Edgren forward Jacob Sterry shoots between Yokota Panthers defenders during Saturday's boys championship game in the DODDS Japan basketball tournament at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Edgren edged Yokota 55-53. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Trailing by 13 points after three quarters against Yokota seemed to be precisely where Jacob Sterry and Robert D. Edgren wanted the Panthers.
Sterry scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and the Eagles rallied from a 47-34 third-quarter deficit to upend the Panthers 55-53 and capture the boys title in the DODDS-Japan basketball tournament Saturday at Yokota’s Capps Gym.
“This is a very special team,” said coach Andre Thibert, whose Eagles earlier Saturday came back from 11 down at halftime to beat Nile C. Kinnick 75-69 and secure a berth in the final.
Thibert pointed to tournament MVP Alan Thurmond, who injured his right (shooting) wrist early in the final, went to the emergency room, came back and kept trying to play.
Then there was Sterry, who went 5-for-7 in the fourth quarter.
“It took him a while, but he got around to it,” Thibert said. “We showed a lot of tenacity and perseverance to come back and win when we were down. And we played three games today,” including a 40-36 loss earlier Saturday to Yokota that sent the Eagles to the knockout bracket.
Edgren was the lone Division II team to win a title in the four season-ending championship tournaments in Japan and Korea over the weekend.
Yokota won the DODDS-Japan girls title, while Seoul American’s boys and girls prevailed in the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference Division I tournaments, the boys at Seoul Foreign and the girls at Seoul American.
Seoul American’s girls left little to chance, pulling away with a 21-3 second quarter and riding Jasmine Thomas’ 25 points and Mecca Perkins’ 18 to a 63-31 triumph over Yongsan International-Seoul.
Earlier Saturday, the Falcons handed Daegu, which went unbeaten and won its first KAIAC regular-season title, its first of two losses on Saturday, 38-35. YIS-Seoul then eliminated the Warriors 41-38.
“The girls really worked hard in practice to get back to where they should be. They deserved it,” Falcons coach Jesse Smith said.
Boys MVP and tournament Best Rebounder Tomiwa Akinbayo posted a double-double, 25 points and 21 boards, and Mark Elliott had 23 points as the Falcons boys rallied from a first-quarter deficit to rout Daegu 68-48.
“It’s always nice to win a championship,” Falcons coach Steve Boyd said, adding that Bryant McCray’s contribution of 10 rebounds, coming off an ankle sprain suffered last month was “a huge step” in getting him back to where he should be.
“We’re not totally 100 percent back, but we’re getting there,” Boyd said. “Hopefully by the first game of Far East against Faith Academy, we’ll be ready.”
MVP Erika Ettl scored 21 points and Trinity Davis added 12 and Yokota’s girls scored the game’s first eight points and never looked back, leading by as many as 25 points in beating Zama American 54-32 in the DODDS-Japan final.
Two straight DODDS-Japan titles for Yokota “kind of speaks for itself,” coach Paul Ettl said. “These girls have worked hard. Hopefully, this gives us some momentum in the right direction for Far East.”