THE DREAM LEAGUE
Asian American / Open Basketball Leagues
|
Y Tu Mama Tambien 53, Gummi Bears 51 |
|
Great Scott! Scott Great in Saving YTMT |
| So much for The Collapse. Last week, YTMT looked like it was on the verge of deja vu and a complete team implosion, just as they experienced last season with the onset of injuries and some dissension among the ranks.
This past Saturday, that door that they seem to be opening again was slammed shut. Playing its collective best game of the season, YTMT (5-1) barely nudged past a game Gummi Bear team (3-2) 53-51, who was playing without star Eric Wang. Not that this game was lacking star power. YTMT's Dave Scott, who was a game time decision, suited up and stepped on the court for the first time in 3 weeks after he gained clearance from team physician Vince Fan during warm ups. "His palm area is still a bit swollen, but with his sweet stroke, it's all in his wrist, not his palm. So I deemed him ready for game time," said Fan. Good thing. For without the clearance, it's likely this article could be about how YTMT opened that de ja vu door and went in rather than closing it. With the game knotted at 51 with 25 seconds to play, YTMT called a timeout and worked a play to isolate Scott and have him drive to the hoop. Scott proceeded to make like Superman and drove to the hoop and hit a lefty lay-up in traffic with 3.3 showing on the clock. The Gummi Bears' Jonathan Guilfoile got off a half-court 3 point attempt at the buzzer that hit the rim and YTMT escaped with the win as the players elatedly rushed the court. Prior to this Dream League insta-classic ending, the game itself was as hard fought as they come. The Gummi Bears, always thought of as a league contender, proved so, and lost nothing from this game in proving that they can hang with anyone and if Wang suits up, they could have what it takes. From the opening tap, YTMT appeared that it would run away with the game as they jumped out to a 10-0 lead as Scott got 2 baskets during the blitz. The Gummi Bears finally started settling a bit as they worked the ball down into Jiang Yu. He got his team on the board with an easy basket to make it 10-2 and got 2 more baskets the rest of the quarter to go along with Guilfoile's 4 to slice the lead to 15-10 at the end of the period. Yusik Choi tallied 6 points in the quarter for YTMT as he looked to aide in righting the slightly sinking ship after sitting out last week's game due to personal reasons. The second frame was fiercly contested as the teams busied themselves by trading baskets. Alex Lien nailed a three to open the period for the Gummi Bears before Scott came right back and answered from downtown himself. A weary Paul Kim then completed a tough three point play for YTMT and appeared winded from thereon out. Kim and teammate Dave Wong, came to the game fresh off of playing in a 3 on 3 tournament that had them spent after having advanced deep in the day. Jiang Yu scored 5 points during the 2nd to help the Gummi Bears outscore YTMT 15-12 in the period and only trailed by a deuce - 27-25 - at intermission. Assisting in the cause was Guilfoile, who was racking up steals left and right. He'd finish with 7 thefts on the game - a league high this season. In the 3rd, Guilfoile started to do more scoring to complement his stealing as he put in 7 points to help keep the Gummi Bears neck and neck with YTMT. When PK got a rebound off a missed Young Yu (no relation to Jiang) free throw and put it back in and the Gummi Bear's David Lee hit a three - the game headed into the final frame all tied up at 38. Fantastic Finish The 4th was no disappointment for fans of the game who witnessed this barnburner. Each quarter in this game had a little story to it and before Scott's heroics at the end of this final chapter, it was the Mark Kiang - Young Yu story. Kiang for reasons both good and bad. Yu for only the good. The teams duked it out again trading baskets throughout the quarter with Kiang getting several baskets going 3-5 in the quarter. That was his good. His bad? That came when with 1:57 left in the game, he committed his 6th foul - one in which left his teammates bewildered - as he didn't need to commit it - and was DQ'd. Young Yu - coming off a game in which he left his own teammates scratching their heads - came alive in the fourth and scored 6 of his own points on a variety of drives and low-post moves around the basket. Despite comparisons to Antoine Walker, this arsenal of moves in the 4th brought to mind more a Paul Pierce than the Shimmy Shaker. With YTMT up by a single point, Jiang Yu was was fouled and made 1 of 2 to tie the game. YTMT called time out, assessed and set up the situation, and the rest was history with Scott's sensational play. YTMT's enigmatic triumvurate of Scott, Choi, and Young Yu really stepped to the plate and delivered in a good sign for the team as they gear up for the post season after next week's intra-conference play. Last season, the team began to unravel towards the end, but after Saturday's showing, signs indicated that that would not happen again. Scott finished with 15 points to lead the team and earned co-Downtown Conference Player of the Week honors. Choi tallied 10 points and 6 boards and Young Yu just missed a double double with 10 points and 8 boards. The Gummi Bears, despite the loss, are primed for a playoff run as well. A play here or there, a player appearing here and there, and who knows? Guilfoile put on a performance to remember in defeat with 16 points, 6 boards, and the aforementioned 7 steals. Jiang Yu recorded his league leading 4th double double with a pair of 13's - perhaps an unlucky indication that they would be losing a tough game on Halloween eve? |
Score by Quarters
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | OT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y Tu Mama Tambien | 15 | 12 | 11 | 15 | - | 53 |
| Gummi Bears | 10 | 15 | 13 | 13 | - | 51 |
Boxscore
| Y Tu Mama Tambien - 53 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ang, Ark | DNP | ||||||||||
| Choi, Yusik | 5 / 12 [0.417] | 0 / 3 [0.000] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | |
| Kim, James | 3 / 5 [0.600] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| Scott, Dave | 6 / 11 [0.545] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 2 / 4 [0.500] | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 15 | |
| Wong, David | 1 / 3 [0.333] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| Won Yi, Chun | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wu, Eric | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Yang, Brian | 4 / 6 [0.667] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| Yu, Young | 5 / 14 [0.357] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 0 / 2 [0.000] | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | |
| 24 / 52 [0.462] | 1 / 7 [0.143] | 4 / 10 [0.400] | 32 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 53 | ||
| Gummi Bears - 51 | |||||||||||
| Player | FG | 3PT | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | F | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilfoile, Jonathan | 6 / 15 [0.400] | 1 / 7 [0.143] | 3 / 5 [0.600] | 6 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 16 | |
| Han, Andrew | 0 / 3 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Hsieh, Jeff | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Kiang, Mark | 4 / 13 [0.308] | 0 / 1 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 | |
| Lee, David | 3 / 4 [0.750] | 1 / 1 [1.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| Lee, Tommy | 1 / 4 [0.250] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Lien, Alex | 1 / 6 [0.167] | 1 / 2 [0.500] | 0 / 0 [0.000] | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Wang, Eric | DNP | ||||||||||
| Yu, Jiang | 5 / 17 [0.294] | 0 / 4 [0.000] | 3 / 8 [0.375] | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 13 | |
| 21 / 63 [0.333] | 3 / 15 [0.200] | 6 / 13 [0.462] | 31 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 15 | 51 | ||