Mixed day for the Thunder. Our 12U played well down the stretch and beat the Islanderz 43-38 at Aiea District Park Gym. We had good depth for that one. Jared Elwin was solid at the point again, with Micah Visoria, Joshua de Jesus and Ryan Higashionna doing well on the wings, Micah Tong giving us key shots and Kalai Kuia providing solid rebounding. Javan Montiho was solid off the bench. Walter Berthold and Felcris Corpuz hustled hard off the bench, too.
When we executed the pressbreaker and halfcourt offense — passing and cutting against the Islanderz' fullcourt and halfcourt pressure — the points were easier to get. When we stood there instead of cutting, they got steals off us. We'll learn from every game if we're smart; we did a lot of smart things today, but it's the mistakes that help us to learn and grow.
The second game, against Laie in the CAL middle-school division, was rough. We lost 67-12. We played without Jared and Ryan (PAL game), and Little Micah had to leave before halftime to play in that same game. Sierra and Jimark were the guards. It was basically our team without three missing starters (Kyle, Tanielu, Chris) and a key reserve (Jerry), so we had almost no size under the basket.
Laie is huge. They've got some boys in the 6-2 to 6-4 range, and one of them is a really talented player who can go coast to coast off a rebound and finish. I would really like to challenge them with our full lineup, if we get that chance. If our guys are available next time.
For today, though, it was great to see Javan battle guys more than a foot taller (and 100 pounds heavier) under the boards. It was good to see everyone improve on the pressbreaker, making smarter decisions. That can ONLY happen when we play strong teams, bigger teams. I'd rather see us make mistakes and improve on those against that kind of competition than play a lot of average or below-average teams.
But the reality is, Laie is so physically talented, they looked like a high school varsity team out there. To beat them with today's lineup, we'd have to play almost mistake-free (no turnovers) and hit a good percentage of our shots. We didn't really get to press them a lot since we weren't big or deep with athletes who could outrun Laie, but I know we can give them some trouble IF we have our older guys.
One more note: We really have to work on playing better position defense, both before and during the shot. We'll get to that at practice on Sunday and Monday. We're just not physical enough, as both games today showed. We reach too often instead of moving our feet early. That takes repetition at practice, so add that to our list of priorities.
So the day is done, the pizza has been eaten and we all still have the rest of the afternoon and night to enjoy this day. I like morning basketball.
MAHALO to Joy (Sierra's mom) and Claire & Scott (Big Micah's parents) for buying lunch and sodas today at Pizza Hut. That isn't cheap, so I really appreciate it!
Also: The guys who made it to the post-game pizza today told me at lunch they want to play in PAA. So the confirmed players for PAA 13U are:
Kyle Moraga
Micah Tong
Joshua de Jesus
Sierra Murobayashi
Felcris Corpuz
Need confirmation from:
Jared Elwin (PAL League Thursdays)
Ryan Higashionna (PAL League Thursdays)
Micah Visoria (PAL League Thursdays)
Tanielu Afe (football practice Thursdays, football games Saturday mornings)
Chris Afe (football practice Thursdays, football games Saturday mornings)
Javan Montiho
Kalai Kuia
Am I forgetting anyone? Please let me know if you're playing. I'll print out the forms soon. PAA League now requires a copy of a birth certificate for each player, so please bring those to me before or at the first game (first week in February). I'll be busy on some of those game nights (Wed/Thur/Sat), so Coach Roy will be in charge when I'm not there.
There's also PAA 15U starting in the third week of February, so guys like Jimark, Brent and Sifo, plus some of our 13U, will play in that division. I'll more info on that when they send it to us. (Note: Looks like we'll need more players for 15U, and I mean dedicated players who are willing to practice. I don't want a repeat of last year. We spent a LOT of money to enter teams in 15U leagues and a lot of guys were no-shows at practice and games. Never again...)
(Note: To see the upcoming leagues this winter and spring, check out the lists at the right side of this page.)
I like what we've done with a limited amount of practice. We're basically a brand-new team in 12U and everyone's meshing really well. All we need is more time together in practice and games. It's a blessing to have great people who happen to love basketball on the same team.
WE LUB THIS GAME!
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