2005 Summer/Fall - Wildcatz (Setai Cossa)

2005 Winter/Spring - Wildcatz (Rayguns)

04-05 Fall/Winter - Game Time (Setai Cossa)

2004 Spring/Summer - East Bay Cardinals (Wildcatz)

03-04 Winter/Spring - Pacific Coast Real Estate (Alliance)

2003 Summer/Fall - Setai Cossa (Pacific Coast Real Estate)

02-03 Winter/Spring - Pacific Coast Real Estate (Game Time)

2002 Summer/Fall - Pacific Coast Real Estate (West Coast Skinnies)

2002 Spring - Accidental Asians (Alliance)

Setai One-Ups Game Time, Then Forces Repeat

NOVEMBER 11, 2005 -- With the loss of former NL MVP center Brian Liang to a career move to the Big Apple, Game Time's season hung in the balance as Liang played his last Bay Area game with little fanfare in a regular season loss to the Wildcatz. But then Game Time actually fell into a groove and found themselves a bit more mobile with room to maneuver down low as AL-Elite MVP Mike Kraus was added and firing from downtown. After a thrilling and even more importantly convincing victory in the playoffs against Setai Cossa, they played a near flawless game until the closing seconds to lose by one point to the Wildcatz.

Last Sunday against Setai, in the last Losers Bracket game, Game Time made another stellar comeback, this time in the 4th quarter, only to be outdone by perennial heart slasher Conant Chi, again by one point.

Jeremy Lee busted out of the gates with 12 of Setai's 20 first-quarter points, as Kraus came out 1-for-5 and Game Time combined for 5-for-16 in the opening frame. But Kraus redeemed himself with 10 points in the 2nd and Game Time trailed by three at the half. After committing six turnovers in the 3rd, Game Time erased a 7-point 4th quarter deficit.

Game Time's Johnny Liu (yellow shorts, right side) stuns Setai with a trey that swishes with 1.0 seconds left, but then Setai's Conant Chi (#2) seals off defender Dave Peng to one-up on Game Time at the buzzer.

With 3:35 to go and down 52-47, Chuck "Young" Leung got a rare opportunity to take the ball strong to the hole and got fouled by Jon Lee, converting the wrap-around layup. Leung calmly swished the free throw as the NL newbie showed remarkable poise in the face of the legend that is Setai. On the ensuing sequence, Jameel Uddeen forced Jeremy Lee into a bad shot that trickled into the hands of Setai's Devin Wong, who tossed it to big man Chris "the-hell-with-posting-up-I'm-shooting-a-three" Kuwada, who naturally shot the three, but it clanked and Dave Peng rebounded. All of a sudden, it looked like Game Time could actually make a game of it with possession and down 52-50 with plenty of time to go. But then Peng made the cardinal mistake of not outletting to a guard, trying to dribble through traffic on his own, and Jeremy Lee picked his pocket still inside the paint, easily scoring the layup to make it 54-50.

Now it looked like Game Time might be done, but Johnny Liu got the ball inside and managed to weave his way around Kuwada to draw a two-shot foul, which Liu drained to make it 54-52 with 2:30 to go. Then Jeremy Lee tried to drive on Uddeen, but Uddeen once again played great defense and forced Lee into an awkward shot. After nearly two minutes of trading turnovers and badly missed shots including a reversion to newbie status from Leung and flabbergasting goof ups from Jeremy Lee and even Michi Langfeldt, Peng got the rebound off a rare 17-foot brick from Langfeldt and Game Time was still down 54-52 with 18 seconds left.

After a timeout, Liu found Leung open on the left baseline, but Leung's shot was off. Uddeen somehow managed to corral the offensive rebound on the right side and dished it to a wide open Liu in the corner. Jeremy Lee closed in as Liu pump faked, let Lee go by, and launched. Three ball corner pocket was good with 1.0 seconds remaining! Could Game Time pull off the one-point miracle redemption?

Having saved up its timeouts, Setai called one and drew up a play which was probably designed for Langfeldt with captain Chris Hong making his only appearance throwing the ball in. Leung's long arms prevented the inbounds to Langfeldt and Hong called another timeout.

This time, Chi criss-crossed with Lee and sealed off Peng. Hong's pass was perfect and Chi caught the ball near the opposite baseline only about 10 to 12 feet away. Of course the old pro wasn't going to miss that one as the buzzer sounded. With Lee and Langfeldt as dangerous weapons, Peng was not going to get any help. It was the exact same play that was once used on the Rayguns two seasons ago, but which had failed because a certain old fogey doubled off, gambling that 4th option Hank Ichinose was not going to be in the play. That buzzer beater epitomizes how close Game Time is to greatness, if they can just shake off some rookie tendencies. With the rare string of mistakes that Setai made in the final two critical minutes, Game Time easily could have built a two-possession lead against Setai. Game Time has pretty decent man-to-man instinctive coverage to begin with, but they will need to start thinking like wise old men if they want to play like cagey vets and ascend to the next level.

Setai's win over the Catz will be posted in due time...

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"Gold Rush" Tournament Announcement: 12/16-18 in SF/OAK/SAM

OCTOBER 6, 2005 -- The best of the best is in the wild wild west! Asian, Open, Women's, and Masters divisions available...Full Story