Kubasaki's Lucas Andrews drives against Kadena's Cedrick Dorelien during Sunday's semifinal, which the Panthers won 56-35. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – Mission accomplished for Kadena’s boys basketball team.
Sweet redemption for the Panthers’ DeShaun Nixon.
Those storylines were going full tilt just before sunset Sunday at the Foster Field House as Kadena outlasted a tenacious, comeback-minded Taipei American team 50-45 in the finals of the Okinawa-American Friendship Tournament.
Nixon, a junior guard, scored the last five points, hitting a three-point goal with a minute left, then driving for a layup following a steal by Jaden Patsel with 18 seconds left. It sent a crowd of some 250 Kadena supporters into a frenzy of celebration.
A teary-eyed Nixon had much to celebrate: It signaled redemption for him after he had been removed from the team last year due to violations of team rules.
“I wanted to do something to help my team win,” an emotional Nixon said. He finished with a team-high 16 points.
“He (Nixon) always takes the challenge,” Kadena coach Antiwon Tucker said.
Patsel added 14 points, 10 coming in the first half, but it was the steal that led to Nixon’s insurance bucket that proved to be the play that sealed the contest.
“I saw the championship on the line,” said Patsel of going for the steal. “These are the kind of moments I live for.”
Kadena's Jaden Patsel drives against Kubasaki's Troy Harris and Maurice Brown during Sunday's semifinal, which the Panthers won 56-35. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kubasaki's Carlos Cadet passes around Kadena's Aslan Martinez and Cory Tripp during Sunday's semifinal, which the Panthers won 56-35. ()
The victory marked the sixth time in the 17-year history of the tournament that the Panthers have claimed the title, the most of any team, Japanese, American or Taiwanese; the Tigers were entered in the tournament for the first time.
And Kadena also completed what coach Antiwon Tucker called a three-part mission:
Last Dec. 10 at Kadena, the Tigers beat the Panthers on a buzzer-beater in the 5th Taipei American Basketball Exchange.
The next week in the 16th Friendship Tournament, Kadena lost by 12 points to Maehara in the quarterfinals and to Kubasaki 63-56 in the third-place game. Kadena outlasted Maehara 54-53 in pool play Saturday, then beat the Dragons 56-35 in Sunday’s semifinal.
Still, Tucker said, a long road lies ahead for Kadena, which hopes to redeem itself for losing the Far East Division I Tournament final by 22 points to St. Mary’s on the Panthers’ home court.
“This is just a check box,” Tucker said. “We have to keep getting better from here.”
The lead see-sawed early before the Panthers used an 11-0 first-half run to charge ahead. They led 37-16 early in the third quarter before the Tigers rallied, using a 26-3 run to go up briefly 42-40 with 4:03 left, setting the stage for Nixon’s and Patsel’s heroics.
Among the other results in the two-day tournament, Taipei American’s girls team captured the title, beating Koza, a Japanese team, 46-39 in the final.
Kubasaki’s boys finished third for the second straight year, outlasting Maehara 60-58 in extra time. Kadena’s and Kubasaki’s girls teams were eliminated in Sunday’s quarterfinals.
Though the Dragons and Panthers girls teams came away empty handed regarding hardware, coaches of each team felt their teams stand to benefit down the road from playing in the tournament.
“The girls got exposure to fast-paced basketball,” Dragons girls coach Robert Barrett said, specifically of Koza and Taipei, “because they play pretty fast. And they gained better knowledge of the different things they need to work on as a team.”
The friendship tournament gave Kadena’s and Kubasaki’s teams the most competitive games they’ve seen to this point in the season, Panthers girls coach Alisa Settles said.
“This gives them a clear picture of what they’re capable of doing,” Settles said. “They learned how to play as a team, make adjustments and rely on each other.”
Win or lose, the players and teams all took major steps in their development, longtime Kubasaki boys coach Jon Fick said.
“We got so much better” over the weekend, he said. “It takes time for these kids. They’re talented and aggressive and it takes time and experience. This was a big learning experience for us. Even if we lost a couple (of games), the kids and coaches are seeing the growth.”
