THE DREAM LEAGUE
National Basketball Tournaments
|
LA Dragon's Den 46, Alpine Striders (LA) 36 |
|
The 6-Foot-And-Under Equivalent Championship |
| LA Dragon's Den Wins Battle of Small Ball September 9, 2006 LAS VEGAS, NV -- The first-round matchup between the Alpine Striders and LA Dragon's Den could have been mistaken for a 6-Foot-And-Under division matchup in one of Dream League's tournament. Which by the way we think both teams would probably make an appearance deep into the tournament. Well, Dragon's Den won the battle. Kevin Krose (#1) would eventually be named to the All-Tourney team, but had a rather normal 12-point output in this one. Teammate Justin Yin (#3) led all scorers with 16 as Kye Lee added 12 points and 4 assists. Yin and Lee carried the Dragons in the first half while Krose sealed the deal in the 2nd. Former LVI all-star selection Jonathan Chu (#12) couldn't hit anything, going just 4-for-13 and 3-for-12 from beyond the arc for Alpine. How they fared Dragon's Den went on to lose to Arizona Desert Jade by six, then beat Tigers Red by 9 to win 3rd Place. They probably would have been too small to have success against some of the other teams in the AANC. However, Dragon's Den is certainly enjoying some success after their head-turning AA-Silver championship in 2004. Last year, they followed that up with a Consolation win thanks to a 2-point upset over the depleted Sacramento All-Net, of which the Pac Coast Barons became an offshoot. They were beaten by 15 points in the first round by none other than Alpine. Then Dragon's Den followed that up with a 3rd Place finish this year and a first-round revenge game against Alpine (don't know why the schedule makers did that). Not bad. Looks like they will be here to stay in AA-Gold. The Alpine Striders got double-e'd by the Dream League All-Stars by 13 points. But their point differential performance was far exceeded by the hapless Minneapolis Lakers, therefore expect a AA-Gold bid to remain in 2007 for Alpine. It's the first time in recent memory that an Alpine squad, even an offshoot of the original, has gone home from Vegas 0-2. What's also curious is that Alpine has reverted back to the old Striders name. For awhile, after coach Tony Wong's retirement, they were known as "A.S. Friends". While the talent level is certainly not the best that we have seen from Wong's stable, this group is deeply committed to executing some of the Princeton-like offensive sets so critical to making a shorter team more successful. However, the height and athleticism of the other AANC teams might be too much to overcome. Alpine was granted an invitation, but declined. Again, it is oh so very difficult for an LVI team to adjust and play an extra day in the AANC. |
Score by Quarters
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Striders (LA) | 16 | 0 | 20 | 0 | - | 36 |
| LA Dragon's Den | 25 | 0 | 21 | 0 | - | 46 |
Boxscore
| Alpine Striders (LA) - 36 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ?, #23 | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| ?, #6 | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Au, Bradley | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Chow, Creighton | 1 / 6 [0.167] | 0 / 4 [0.000] | 2 / 2 [1.000] | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Chow, Donald | 1 / 7 [0.143] | 0 / 3 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Chu, Jonathan | 4 / 13 [0.308] | 3 / 12 [0.250] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |
| Huang, Bo | 0 / 4 [0.000] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 4 / 5 [0.800] | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Lim, Jeff | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Ly, Vi | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Soong, Steven | 2 / 5 [0.400] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| Tran, Minh | 1 / 3 [0.333] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Zhang, Kevin | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 12 / 46 [0.261] | 3 / 24 [0.125] | 9 / 14 [0.643] | 30 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 36 | ||
| LA Dragon's Den - 46 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahn, Suk | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| Kim, Mike | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Krose, Kevin | 5 / 10 [0.500] | 1 / 3 [0.333] | 1 / 3 [0.333] | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 12 | |
| Lee, Kye | 6 / 12 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 12 | |
| Oh, Paul | DNP | ||||||||||
| Park, Jin | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Park, Paul | 2 / 7 [0.286] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| Yun, Justin | 4 / 10 [0.400] | 4 / 8 [0.500] | 4 / 4 [1.000] | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 16 | |
| 18 / 43 [0.419] | 5 / 11 [0.455] | 5 / 10 [0.500] | 28 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 46 | ||