THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
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Corlears 42, KSA Champs 41 |
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Corlears Hang On Against KSA |
| January 20, 2008 – New York, NY (DL) – Man, it’s gonna be a wild and wooly ride in the AAA. On Sunday, the Corlears began their title defense with a one-point win. Their opponent was an expansion team no one knew anything about, but after the game, trust that it got the league’s attention. The Corlears didn’t so much as win as they avoided losing against the KSA Champs, who, in the 2nd half, indeed looked more the champs than did the Corlears. Okay, chalk up some of the Corlears running out of gas to the fact that they were without their bench (did they drink some Gen X juice?), missing important figures like Dan Hsu and Virgilio Borbo. For a half, they looked worthy of their title as they punched out to an early lead and rode it to a 26-17 halftime advantage. Jeff Tu, the reigning MVP, was most worthy with 10 points in the 1st as he picked up where he left off last season with his deft touch. He had 12 by the half, Drew Chen had his sweet lefty stroke going, and Brian Yang was making like Greg Oden (shooting with his other hand due to an injured finger on his shooting hand). Things were good. In neither quarter in the 1st half did the Corlears allow KSA to attain double digits. Well, something happened at halftime, and while the Corlears could blame fatigue, KSA clearly came out a different team. It seemed to take their center Elbert Kwak a half to warm up because in the 3rd, he came out like a man possessed. Swatting shots like flies and then laying shots home around the rim as if he were breathing (it was that easy), Kwak went 4/5 from the field for 10 points in the 3rd, scoring the majority of their points. Were it not for DC’s courageous triples – he had a pair in the 3rd to quiet critics temporarily about his ability to hit them – the Corlears would have been dead in the water. Their offense slowed to a standstill. No one was moving. And each time down the court, it seemed they struggled just to get a shot off. Tu was tired, Yang may as well have cut off his left hand, KSA was creepin’. KSA closed the gap to 37-30 entering the 4th, taking mother momentum entirely on their side with the prize in their eyes. As clang after clang and turnover after turnover mounted for the champs (not only did they go 2/9 in the 4th and had at least half their 19 turnovers alone in this period), KSA kept surging back. Tu (13 pts, 6 rbs) was held scoreless in the 4th and only had 1 point in the 2nd half, DC (14 pts, 4 assts, 2 stls) started to miss his treys, and the Corlears couldn’t buy a bucket, no sir. Ken Van (12 pts, 2 stls) nailed a three and then a two to open the 4th for KSA to close to within 37-35. Fred Li (7 rbs) bailed out the Corlears for a second by hitting an off-balance bank shot-clock beating 3, but Mike Lee kept the heat on by swishing his own 3 on the next KSA possession to stay hot on the Corlears’ heels. After the Corlears finally recognized that KSA was killin’ them from outside, they switched to man, and fortunately for them, that was what got them home. Barely. Neutralizing their jump shooters, the Corlears did just enough on offense (one more Yang score on a put-back; they only had 2 field goals in the 4th and went 0/6 from the line) to survive a massive collapse, hanging on to win 42-41 when Kwak’s (10 pts, 8 rbs, 3 blks) 3-point try with a few seconds left hit the rafters above (something any new team must adjust to on Sundays). The Corlears nearly coughed this one up with a depleted roster. But KSA seems legit enough. A solid big man and some shooters, it’s a simple recipe really. Here in the AAA though, nearly all the teams have that this season. So what seems simple is going to be really complex. |
Score by Quarters
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KSA Champs | 8 | 9 | 13 | 11 | - | 41 |
| Corlears | 10 | 16 | 11 | 5 | - | 42 |
Boxscore
| KSA Champs - 41 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choe, Peter | 4 / 8 [0.500] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9 | |
| Chon, Patrick | DNP | ||||||||||
| Du, John | 1 / 5 [0.200] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | |
| Hong, Andy | 2 / 4 [0.500] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Kwak, Elbert | 4 / 9 [0.444] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 2 / 4 [0.500] | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | |
| Lam, Ron | DNP | ||||||||||
| Lee (NYC), Michael | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Paik, Dan | 0 / 3 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pak, Joe | DNP | ||||||||||
| Ryu, Chang | 1 / 3 [0.333] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Van, Kenneth | 4 / 9 [0.444] | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 3 / 4 [0.750] | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 | |
| Wang, Yian | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 16 / 43 [0.372] | 3 / 13 [0.231] | 6 / 10 [0.600] | 22 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 11 | 41 | ||
| Corlears - 42 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borbo, Virgilio | DNP | ||||||||||
| Chen, Andrew | 5 / 12 [0.417] | 3 / 7 [0.429] | 1 / 5 [0.200] | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 14 | |
| Ha, Alfred | DNP | ||||||||||
| Hsu, Dan | DNP | ||||||||||
| Kim, Dennis | DNP | ||||||||||
| Lee, TJ | DNP | ||||||||||
| Li, Fred | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |
| Su, Cliff | 1 / 8 [0.125] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Tu, Jeff | 6 / 14 [0.429] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 13 | |
| Yang, Brian | 3 / 7 [0.429] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 4 / 9 [0.444] | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | |
| 16 / 43 [0.372] | 4 / 8 [0.500] | 6 / 18 [0.333] | 26 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 19 | 9 | 42 | ||
Referees
| William Bullock: | Rate Me |
| Joe Thompson: | Rate Me |