The rise from the abyss of last season is complete for the Osan American boys basketball team.
Led by tournament MVP Dominique Williams and Best Rebounder Jeff Tinsley, the Cougars completed their school-first Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference Tournament title run, routing Daegu American 64-47 in Saturday’s final at Korea International School.
“I can’t describe it,” first-year coach Kevin Peterson said of Osan’s unlikely rise to the top.
It came a year after the Cougars had been sent home from the Far East Class A Tournament because of unspecified code-of-conduct violations. And it came a week after key newcomer Josh Hanks was removed from the team, again due to undisclosed reasons. It left Osan with seven players entering the KAIAC tournament. “At the start of the week, we were in kind of bad shape,” Peterson said.
Yet after losing 54-44 at Daegu American in the last regular-season game, the Cougars (10-7) ran off four straight victories, including three in the KAIAC tournament.
That mirrored the way Osan began the season, Peterson said.
“Last year, we got the guys believing they could win. The returners felt they could play with the big boys and the newcomers bought into it and it just went from there.”
Although no longer on the team, Hanks was invaluable in terms of teaching the younger players and being a “second coach on the court,” Peterson said.
“He’s still a part of this.”
Now comes the Far East Class A Tournament on Feb. 15-19, again at Misawa Air Base, Japan, and the past four games have changed the Cougars’ viewpoint, Peterson said.
“A week ago, it was a dream. Now, it’s a goal,” he said. “I don’t think we knew how well we could do.”
That’s hardly a bother for Seoul American’s girls (21-6), who wrapped up their 18th straight KAIAC tournament title behind Diamond Person’s 24 points and 10 rebounds in a 60-34 romp over Daegu at Osan American High School. Seoul American went 17-0 against KAIAC opponents this season.
Coach Billy Ratcliff credited the Falcons’ performance to assistant coach Jesse Smith’s emphasis on fundamentals. “He’s the brains behind a lot of that stuff, bringing the girls’ fundamentals to a new level,” Ratcliff said.
“He just coaches them up, repetition, do it until you don’t think about it any more, you just do it. That has made a big difference this year.”
As an example, Ratcliff cited Smith’s work with the players on foul shooting, how Smith breaks down “every little part” of it, from the bend in the knee to the release of the ball.
“He studies every little part of the stance,” Ratcliff said. “I’m an X’s- and O’s-type coach. He takes care of the fundamentals.”
Next for the Falcons is the Far East Class AA Tournament on Feb. 15-20 at Camp Zama, where they lost a heartbreaker in the final last year to Faith Academy. “We’re going to go there and play good, hard ball,” Ratcliff said, “and see where it leads.”