THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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Homecrest Cruisers 60, Renegades 59 |
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Homecrest Hangs Onto Win, Advances to Third Championship in Three Seasons | |||||||
December 6, 2006 – New York, NY (DL) – For the second game in a row, Tony Hu has made like his old self, and led his Homecrest Cruisers to a win. In his last game, he had bigger numbers, but in Wednesday night’s, more was at stake. The NL’s top-seed slipped by the 2-seed Renegades 60-59 in a game of wild runs to advance onto next Wednesday’s Finals. As the score indicates, it wasn’t an easy task. There Hu was at the beginning, and there Hu was at the end – literally – to save Homecrest with a virtuoso performance that will leave fans remembering for a long time “that game when…”
"That game" when Hu hounded the Renegades with 7 1st period points to establish a 20-14 lead after one. He got a 3-point play and two put backs as he went right to his strength – abusing the post. In laying his 225 pound frame on defenders and lithely drawing fouls, no other player in the game can operate in the key as well as Hu. "That game" when Hu saved the Cruisers with a last second block of James Choi’s jumper that could have won the game at the buzzer for the Renegades. Down just a point with 6 seconds remaining, the Renegades had the ball in their possession with one final look, but Hu popped out of no where to snuff the shot clean as time expired. Maybe just another ho-hum performance (16 points, 13 boards, 2 blocks) to him, but another one in the amazing moments of the Tony Hu scrapbook for us.
Of course, Hu had some help along the way, and of course the Gades hardly made it easy for them. CB Liu (14 points) pulled a 3 and Quincy Tso dropped a pair, but with Eddie Wang and Gene Kim tossing in a couple of their own, all we got was a damn good competitive opening period that indicated we’d be in for a long night. Choi drained another triple, but CB followed with another and Hu’s 3-point play, along with Stan Yeung’s steal and score put Homecrest up 10 – 28-18. The Renegades were walking a fine line between being in it and not, but when Choi and John Chung scored 4 straight, we knew which side of the line they were on. Mika Ohiorhenuan (10 boards, 2 blocks) presented problems to the Renegades as he got a hanging off-balance shot to fall and a pass to Yeung (10 points, 4 assists) for 3 and it would ultimately leave the Gades a bit battered and bruised as they found themselves down 9, 35-26, at the break.
The Renegades, however, were playing decently and would have otherwise found themselves in the lead if not for Hu and his 12 halftime points. Hu became subdued in the 2nd half and the Renegades used a 9-0 run to open the 3rd to tie the ball game up at 35. Gene Kim started the burst with a basket, Joe Kim continued it with 4 straight, and Pete Prassos ended it with a trey. The Renegades were so hot in fact that Homecrest didn’t get their first point of the half until Yeung delivered free throws at the 4:21 mark.
Choi (15 points, 6 boards, 4 assists) came back with a 3 that put the Gades on top for the first time in the game 38-37, but as we all know, this game isn’t about he who runs most, it’s about he who runs last (or is it?) Choi’s 3 actually started another run 7-0 that staked the 2-seed to a 45-40 lead as the tables turned on who was looking best. It’s what’s to be expected in games featuring the top two teams. Homecrest ended the 3rd on a 10-2 run to reclaim the lead right back, 50-47, and in whatever language you speak, in the 4th – les ball game was on. Though the Cruisers pressed ahead to take a 58-47 lead with 4:30 left after an 8-0 run to begin the 4th (and 18-2 run spanning back to the 3rd), the Renegades clawed back.
Prassos hit a 3, Joe Kim converted, Gene Kim scored twice, Prassos threw a length of the court pass to a streaking Joe (Montana, anyone?), and after Joe (11 points, 7 boards) missed his second free throw following a made first, Gene (11 points) boarded it and put it back in with 30.3 seconds left to bring the Renegades within 1 thanks to a 14-2 run. After a couple of botched plays, the Cruisers’ committed a 24 second shot-clock violation that gave the ball back to the Renegades for that final ill-fated play that Hu came from nowhere for. Hu didn’t have the much by way of offense in the 2nd half, but as it turns out, he saved his best for last. And the Renegades, who fall to await the winner of the Tri-State-Gen X game on Sunday (winner of that gets back to meet Homecrest in the Finals), proved that sometimes even those who run last don’t win. Apparently, sometimes, it’s he who blocks last.
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Score by Quarters
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renegades | 14 | 12 | 21 | 12 | - | 59 |
| Homecrest Cruisers | 20 | 15 | 15 | 10 | - | 60 |
Boxscore
| Renegades - 59 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choi, James | 6 / 14 [0.429] | 3 / 8 [0.375] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 15 | |
| Choi, Myong | 0 / 3 [0.000] | 0 / 3 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Chung, John | 2 / 3 [0.667] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| Kim, Gene | 5 / 8 [0.625] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 11 | |
| Kim, Mike | DNP | ||||||||||
| Kim (NYC), Joe | 4 / 9 [0.444] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 3 / 4 [0.750] | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | |
| Lee (NY), Mark | DNP | ||||||||||
| Nam, Billy | DNP | ||||||||||
| Prassos, Pete | 3 / 13 [0.231] | 2 / 10 [0.200] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |
| Wang, Eddie | 3 / 11 [0.273] | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| Watana, Ace | DNP | ||||||||||
| 23 / 61 [0.377] | 7 / 27 [0.259] | 6 / 9 [0.667] | 25 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 59 | ||
| Homecrest Cruisers - 60 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chan, David | DNP | ||||||||||
| Chan, George | 4 / 9 [0.444] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | |
| Cheng, David | DNP | ||||||||||
| Cheung, Warren | DNP | ||||||||||
| Hu, Tony | 5 / 7 [0.714] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 6 / 9 [0.667] | 13 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 16 | |
| Liu, CB | 5 / 16 [0.313] | 4 / 12 [0.333] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |
| Ohiorhenuan, Mika | 3 / 7 [0.429] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | |
| Tso, Quincy | 2 / 7 [0.286] | 2 / 7 [0.286] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | |
| Yeung, Gary | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Yeung, Stan | 3 / 6 [0.500] | 2 / 4 [0.500] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 10 | |
| 22 / 52 [0.423] | 8 / 25 [0.320] | 8 / 11 [0.727] | 32 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 19 | 12 | 60 | ||
Referees
| Barry Martin: | Rate Me |
| Eric Weaver: | Rate Me |