As part of our continuing effort to raise money and raise awareness for good causes, Philadelphia Fastball hosted the 2013 WBCA Tournament on October 6, 2013 in West Deptford, NJ. In all, 7 teams took part in this event and we raised $200 to put towards Breast Cancer Awareness. Thank you to all for participating, volunteering, and playing.
Great games were played on 2 courts in the Gymansium in the morning, highlighted by 3 very exciting close games that came down to the wire in Pool B. When the playoffs rolled in, 2 out of the 3 QF matchups were great games to watch. Ronin survived a huge comeback by the Fastball 18's as they escaped with a 43-39 game that could have gone either way. Chris Rivera came up huge with 15 points, 6 rebs, and hit all 3 of his FT's. In all, Ronin sank 13/15 second half free throws to put the game away. Big Michael Chau led Fastball juniors with 16 pts, 18 rebounds, and 2 assists. The best game of the day was the 4-OT saga between Virginia Supernova and the NY Flightz. The Flightz started off slow, but then full court pressed their way to a 6 point lead in the second half. The Flightz were easily the more athletic team, but cramps and fatigue (only 7 players, including a few who played every minute of pool play) became NY's enemy as they started to unravel. Jason Wu (9 pts, 3 assists, 8 rebs) and Jeff Lam (4 pts, 9 blocks, 4 steals) fouled out as Marlboro Tsung (9 pts, 3 rebs) and Chris Chesterfield (12 pts, 2 treys, 13 rebounds, 2 dimes) got Nova going with a mix of inside and outside shots. NY had plenty of opportunitiesdown the stretch and through OT, but missed numerous layup gimmes. Caleb Lui (3-4 fts, 4 assists, 5 fouls) controlled the tempo for Supernova before he fouled out as well. In the 4th OT, the Flightz made only 1/6 FT's as they failed to capitalize on numerous opportunities. Nova won 38-36.
In the first Semi, Ronin was down by 12 as TNt was nailing 3point daggers all first half. But TNT's well ran dry in the second half as Ronin came back from the dead thanks to Chris Rivera's impressive offensive game (13 second half points). Ronin 37, TNT 33. In the other Semifinal, Nova was clearly exhausted from their 4OT win in the quarters and didnt have much mustard left for the big hot dog dance. Fastball B's Minh Tran (15 pts, 3 treys), David Lam (9 pts, 3 steals), and Tuan Tang (13 pts, 9 rebs) were too much as all 8 players got into the scorebook in a 61-31 win.
The Championship game appeared to be over about 5 minutes into the game, as Fastball B took advantage of a porous Ronin zone bytaking jumpshots galore. However, Ronin regrouped at the end of the first half, going to DJ Del Puerto (11 pts, 8 rebs) on back to back possessions inside. Guard Roman Carandang (12 pts, 2/2 ft, 2 steals) remained poised under pressure, and he got the rock to Ronin main man Chris Rivera (12 pts) to stage a comeback. Ronin went to a man defense, and 18 yr old David Lam found mismatch heaven as no one could stay in front of him. Lam torched Ronin repeatedly to the tune of 21 pts, 2 triples, and 4 assists. Late in the game, Fastball held a slim margin, and Ronin was ready to have another run. EY Oliarte nailed a 3 pointer, as did Jo M, but Dr Guo answered with a 3, and then David Lam followed up with another swish from behind the arc. Fastball kept Ronin at bay despite terrible ft shooting and won 59-55. Congrats to both teams.
