In the Mens Friendship division, 5 closely pitted squads took part in the Friendship Tourney at the newly built Fels High School.
Following round robin pool play, the playoffs began in the mid afternoon. In the #4/#5 wild card game, the Philly Suns B and Phila Fastball B squared off for the rights to advance. The teams had met earlier in the day, with the Suns B advancing 31-28 in a close one. With elimination facing the loser this time around, as well as bragging rights for the city, both teams were pretty nervous. The teams were attrocious in the first half, as Fastball B led by an anemic 4-3 score. In the second half, Fastball B got their run game on with De Lin (9 pts, 8 boards, 1-3 ft) and Jimmie Poeng (5-9 ft, 3 steals) getting out into the open court. Fastball B won by 10, 30-20. Sam Jung paced the Suns B with 7 pts, and 2 assists (1-3 ft). In the Semis, Fastball B had to play back to back against the top seeded and undefeated Lightyear Studio team. Lightyear took advantage of the tired Fastball B team and raced out to a 22-10 edge. Justin Luu was money from everywhere as Fastball tried both man and zone defenses. Tang Vu (11 pts, 1 block, 2 treys) came off the bench in the second half to replace the weary Fastball B guys, and pulled his team within 3, but Lightyear was smart enough to ride the free throw shooting of PF Veng Ting (11 pts, 9-10 ft) to win 38-28. In the other Final Four matchup, Fastball C would meet up with Armando Buligon's Ronin team. Both teams came in sporting identical .500 records in pool play, so nobody knew what to expect here. Ronin was led by the flashy and spectacular swingman Spenser Bartelbaugh and young PG Austin Buligon. Fastball C countered with a lineup of new adds Christopher Kim (7 pts, 3 rebs), Minh Nguyen (5 pts, 1-1 ft), Daniel Su (6 pts), and Chien Ming Cheng. Fastball C had little cohesion, but they were able to figure out how to space the court correctly as fellow rookies Ferd Mendoza (4 pts) and Yu Heng Guo (1 trey) were able to direct traffic. Fastball took a slight lead as they led by 8 at the half. But Ronin came back in the second half and got within 1, with Mel Fabian sinking a super deep threeball and with Austin Buligon (7 pts, 3-3 ft, 4 dimes) getting his guys out into transition. Fastball pulled out a big win 33-28.
The Championship game would boil down to Fastball C and Lightyear Studio. Lightyear decided to spread out the attack in the first half, with 7 different players contributing to their 16 points, as they held onto 16-11 lead midway through. In the second half, Fastball C lived up to their name as they started to play their famous style at both ends of the court. The pace picked up and the deep bench of the C team led them to a 42-36 win and the first tourney title in their history. Justin Luu had 12 pts/2-2 ft, and Veng Ting had 9 pts/5 rebounds for Lightyear, and MVP Ferd Mendoza had 6 for Fastball. Bigman Chien Ming Cheng led fastball with 7 pts and 2 blocks.
Wild Card: Fastball B 30, Suns B 20.
Semifinals: Lightyear Studio 38, Fastball B 28. Fastball C 33, Ronin 28.
Finals: Fastball C 42, Lightyear Studio 36.
All Tourney Team:
Ferd Mendoza, Fastball C (MVP)
Yit Mun Lee, Fastball C
Justin Luu, Lightyear Studio
Veng Ting, Lightyear Studio
Jimmie Poeng, Fastball B
Spenser Bartelbaugh, Ronin
Kellen Ngo, Suns B.
