Aiea 12U title game: Thunder 26, Imua 22

Great work today, Thunder 12U. Final: Thunder 26, Imua 22. So many ups and downs against a tough opponent, but we finished the game by playing smart, when it counted so much. Great hustle, solid teamwork and superb defense. Man, I saw people boxing out, people who didn't do much boxing out for weeks and months. I saw kids hitting the floor, trapping with their teammates, hustling back on defense. Those are some of the things that remain constant - the things we can control - when our offense gets ragged.

Joshua's defense on Imua's sharpshooter (#10), total face-to-face coverage, was a huge factor. The guy hit two or three treys to start the game, Joshua got the assignment to shut him down ... the guy didn't take another shot all game long. That's heart. That's defense!

Ryan also took a turn guarding the guy and did a great job, too. Kalai was terrific on defense, passing on offense and finishing at the basket when Little Micah and Jared got steals. Jared did another phenomenal job on defense, so many hustle plays for deflections and steals, while directing the offense with flow.

Little Micah was key today with ballhandling and hustle plays, and that 3-point bomb in the last 2 minutes to give us the 4-point play was clutch. Little Micah is a happy-go-lucky kid off the court, but a cold-blooded sniper on it.

Javan, Felcris and Walter were strong off the bench today, giving us a boost in the semifinal game that allowed me to rest our starters for the title game, and that makes huge difference for us. Ryan was the X Factor. The last time we played Imua, he had to leave for another game at halftime and we wound up losing. This time, we had a 3-point lead again, but he stayed and we wound up winning. Ryan gives us so many plus factors and so few minuses that it makes that kind of difference — instead of losing by 3 we win by 4. That's what good basketball players do, even if they don't score a lot of points in one game or another.

He even boxed out so well, the big boy on Imua's team wanted to "scrap" with him after the game during the handshake line. Sad that the boy wanted to make trouble (his coaches fixed that problem later), but it shows what great effort can do. Imua didn't dominate us on the boards like they did a few weeks ago when they beat us.

Big Micah - so many things have improved quickly in the past few weeks, and when he's hitting quality shots (high post today), it really lifts our offense. The defense, the passing, the footwork - the work gets better and better.

I'm proud, proud, proud of you guys. You put in the work, never complained and improved your skills. Most of all, you trusted each other (and me) and did this together. Congratulations on the championship!

Team pot luck next Sunday (March 17), 11:00 am, Ala Moana Beach Park. I'll e-mail out a list when I get home tonight.

BIG MAHALOS to Uncle Carl/Aunty Julie, Auntie Claire, Uncle Mark and everybody else who brought snacks and drinks for the kids during our long stay at Aiea gym today. It was awesome to see so much family at the games cheering them on!