Sports
Far East Division II basketballDaegu girls, Morrison boys take titles
Stars and Stripes
February 24, 2012
Daegu Warriors players celebrate their Far East High School Girls Division II Basketball Tournament title, their second in three years and third in school history. The Warriors beat host Robert D. Edgren 32-20 in Friday's championship game. (Taylor Quinn/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Daegu Warriors players celebrate their Far East High School Girls Division II Basketball Tournament title, their second in three years and third in school history. The Warriors beat host Robert D. Edgren 32-20 in Friday's championship game. (Taylor Quinn/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Robert D. Edgren's Alexis Farrow gets sandwiched between Daegu's Sarah Wright, left, and Maleah Potts Cash during Friday's championship game in the Far East High School Girls Division II Basketball Tournament at Misawa Air Base, Japan. The Warriors beat the host Eagles 32-20 for their second title in three years and third in school history. (Taylor Quinn/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Coach Dan Robinson, left, and his Morrison Academy Mustangs celebrate their fourth straight Far East High School Boys Division II Basketball Tournament title and the sixth in school history. Morrison rallied from five points down at halftime to beat St. Paul Christian of Guam for the second straight year 47-39. (Chiharu Gomez/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Coach Dan Robinson, left, and his Morrison Academy Mustangs celebrate their fourth straight Far East High School Boys Division II Basketball Tournament title and the sixth in school history. Morrison rallied from five points down at halftime to beat St. Paul Christian of Guam for the second straight year 47-39. (Sheina Marie Staley/Special to Stars and Stripes)
St. Paul Christian's Morgan Aiken shoots between Grant Robinson, right, and Isaac Sheppard of the Morrison Academy Mustangs during Friday's championship game in the Far East High School Boys Division II Basketball Tournament at Camp Zama, Japan. Morrison rallied from five points down at halftime to beat St. Paul Christian of Guam for the second straight year 47-39. (Hannah May Greer Hicks/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Isaac Sheppard of the Morrison Academy Mustangs gets sandwiched by Christian Ray Josef, left, and Forrest Gourley of St. Paul Christian during Friday's championship game in the Far East High School Boys Division II Basketball Tournament at Camp Zama, Japan. Morrison rallied from five points down at halftime to beat St. Paul Christian of Guam for the second straight year 47-39. (Hannah May Greer Hicks/Special to Stars and Stripes)
Bendrick Wang of the Morrison Academy Mustangs tries to shoot over Forrest Gourley of St. Paul Christian during Friday's championship game in the Far East High School Boys Division II Basketball Tournament at Camp Zama, Japan. Morrison rallied from five points down at halftime to beat St. Paul Christian of Guam for the second straight year 47-39. (Hannah May Greer Hicks/Special to Stars and Stripes)
This article has been corrected
Daegu’s girls had seen a sign of things to come before winning their second Far East Division II Basketball Tournament title in three years Friday. Five days before the tournament while getting ready to fly to Japan, the entire team was upgraded to first class at Inchon International Airport.
“OK, you’re in first class now. You’d better play like champions,” coach Ken Walter said then to his Warriors.
They came through Friday at Misawa Air Base, as Maleah Potts Cash had 10 points and 10 rebounds and the Warriors outscored host Robert D. Edgren 22-12 in the second half en route to a 32-20 triumph.
“It’s great for the kids, to see the smiles, especially on the seniors,” Walter said. “The school needed it. It’s a good thing.”
Walter used a two-pronged approach to vanquish the Eagles, putting senior defender Leanne Quizon on Edgren senior guard Jen Black to disrupt the Eagles’ offense, then pushed the ball inside to Potts Cash at the start of the second half to jump start the Warriors’ attack.
“Leanne’s defense was big; she is so tenacious,” Walter said. “Once we started working the ball inside to Maleah, she was just on.”
Daegu also got a strong performance from sophomore guard Sarah Wright, who crawled out of a sickbed with the flu to score eight points and record two steals.
“It was really tough,” Wright said. “I just put my mindset to it; the team needs me, I should push myself, there’s only one day left.”
The Eagles, meanwhile, lost in a Far East tournament game on their home court for the second time in 12 years and the third time overall.
In the boys D-II tournament at Camp Zama, Japan, Morrison Academy of Taiwan won its fourth straight title and sixth in school history. The Mustangs rallied from five points down at half behind MVP Jordan Heading’s 17 points to beat St. Paul Christian of Guam for the second straight year, 47-39.
For coach Dan Robinson, whose Mustangs lost just once this season, it was an especially sweet victory. Morrison went unbeaten last season at 35-0 with a senior-laden team; this year’s squad wasn’t as experienced, he said.
“Last year, we played at such a high level,” he said. “This year, we had to work our way back. St. Paul went up, and we found another gear, set some traps and crawled our way back. They showed a lot of heart and character. It was a great way to go.”
CorrectionThe second sentence was incorrectly edited in an earlier version of this article.