Kadena's Kent Bissell and St. Mary's Noah Brooks go after the ball. (Cynthia Abel/Special to Stripes)
TOKYO – Jaden Patsel seems to have the ball in his hands whenever Kadena’s boys basketball team needs a clutch shot.
The senior guard worked his magic in back-to-back games Saturday, lifting the Panthers past Nile C. Kinnick in the semifinals, then over St. Mary’s in the championship and giving Kadena a long-sought title in the American School In Japan Kanto Classic.
“I live for these moments,” said Patsel, who missed the latter part of last season with a severe knee injury. “I want the ball in my hands, to get the shot for my team.”
Patsel’s baseline driving layup with 3 seconds left gave Kadena a 57-55 semifinal win over the two-time defending Far East Division I Tournament champion Red Devils.
Then in the championship, which saw five ties and six lead changes, Patsel drove the lane for a scoop shot with 40.7 seconds left for the final margin in a 38-36 victory. Julian Tsuchiya made a clutch steal on the Titans’ final possession to ice the contest.
“I saw victory. I saw win,” Tsuchiya said when he saw the pass coming to his man on the right side. “I knew I had to get the ball and I did.”
Patsel’s heroics mirrored his two clutch three-point goals in the final four minutes of last month’s 19th Okinawa-American Friendship Tournament, which Kadena won with a 49-37 final victory over the U-18 Kings Japanese club team.
The Panthers ended a run of frustration in the ASIJ tournament, in its eighth year. Under longtime coach Antiwon Tucker, Kadena had finished second twice and third three times in the tournament before Saturday’s triumph.
“We brought one home for Kadena,” Patsel said.
St. Mary’s held the lead through most of the first half before Patsel, who finished with 12 points, hit a layup to knot it 13-13.
Jasen Nii also had 12 points for the Panthers before exiting with a left leg injury. St. Mary’s Drake Huang topped all scorers with 15.
Jaden Patsel has a knack for hitting clutch shots when Kadena needs them. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
St. Mary's Ren Nishioka looks to pass against Kadena's Alexzander Hye. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
St. Mary's Yujiro Kato shoots against Kadena's Carson Kenderdine. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
St. Mary's Desean Smith shoots past Kadena defenders Jasen Nii and Jaden Patsel. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
The news wasn’t all good for the Panthers, who reached the final against host ASIJ only to come up short 29-26 against the Mustangs.
ASIJ led by as many as 10 points, only to see Kadena rally for a brief 13-12 second-half lead. Senior Alice Phillips, named the girls Player of the Tournament, hit a three-pointer to give the Mustangs the lead for keeps, 15-13.
They outscored the Panthers 13-2 to end the third period, but the Panthers rallied, cutting it to 29-26 on Tianna Crawley’s three-pointer with less than a minute left. Kadena had multiple chances at game-tying threes in the closing seconds but couldn’t hit one.
“It’s a good way to end my high school career here,” Phillips said, though sounding a note of caution: ASIJ might face defending D-I champion Kadena in next month’s Far East tournament. “It’s going to be hard going up against them again.”
Crawley said the defeat gave the Panthers “new motivation to beat (the Mustangs) at Far East.”
Kadena's Isamar Toro-Velazquez tries to shoot against ASIJ's Saku Phillips. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Gimme that ball! Kadena's Amarie Allen and ASIJ's Alice Phillips tangle for the ball. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena's Amarie Allen and ASIJ's Ava Piscopo and Lukne Abukeviciute scramble for the ball. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Daegu’s boys basketball team has held sway every time this season against Osan, including Saturday’s 64-60 victory over the Cougars in the Korea Plate Tournament final at Dwight School Seoul.
Jude Velazquez had 24 points and the Warriors outscored the Cougars 18-14 in the final period. Xavier Brown and Leoyadix Lapaix each had 15 for Daegu. Dwayne Singson led the Cougars with 15 points.
It was Daegu’s first title in a KAIAC tournament since winning the small-schools crown 12 years ago.
While the Warriors enjoyed a victorious bus ride home, the same didn’t hold true for Humphreys’ girls, who reached the final of Korea’s Cup Tournament only to come up short against host Seoul Foreign.
Led by MVP Emma Han, the host Crusaders downed the Blackhawks 46-37 in Saturday’s Cup title game. The Blackhawks did come away with two All-Tournament selections, Mikayla Thomas and Saniyah Sherman. Thomas and Sherman were also named All-Conference as was teammate Haley Mitchell.
They’ve come a long way, that Matthew C. Perry girls basketball team, which captured Saturday’s Western Japan Athletic Association tournament title, beating Yokohama International 52-22 in the final.
Elieza Mae Cuaco paced the Samurai with 18 points and Naiya Burford had 15 for the Samurai. They were 14-1 entering the weekend and won all four games in Osaka.
That’s a far cry from three years ago, when Perry was 4-10. The team went 7-14 the next year and have improved by leaps and bounds since, going 19-8 last year.
The team that won the girls WJAA title the last two years, E.J. King, took third place by downing Canadian Academy 33-17.
Perry’s boys team reached the final of its WJAA tournament, but came up 10 points short against Osaka Christian, losing 50-40 at Canadian Academy in Kobe.
In its final preparation for next week’s inaugural Far East girls wrestling tournament at Kadena and next month’s boys tournament at Humphreys, Nile C. Kinnick repeated as champion of the Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools tournaments on its home mats.
Brady Mauldin won the boys 152-pound class, Justin Bodlovic took the heavyweight title and Red Devils wrestlers finished second in six other weights to edge St. Mary’s 82-81 in the team standings.
Kinnick’s girls left little to chance, outpointing Seisen 94-59 and getting weight-class titles from Annika Farin (100), Audrey Snyder (124), Julia Blackwell (130), Jailah McDonald (155) and Gabriella Garcia-Santos (180).
