Last week the pinnacle of the KAS basketball season, the ACAMIS (Association of Chinese And Mongolian International School) tournament, took place in Beijing, China over a 4 day span. The girls team was placed 4th after losing a hard fought game against NAIS. The boys ended up second to the host school, BCIS, after a three point loss in double over-time.
The tournament is made up of 6 teams, KAS (Kaohsiung American School), BCIS (Beijing City International School), SCIS (Shanghai Community International School), BISS BJ (Beijing International Secondary School), RCHK (Renaissance College Hong Kong), and NAIS PD (Nord Anglia International School).
Girls Varsity Basketball Team 2016 (Back L to R: Joanna Liu, Kitty Kuo, Cindy Kao, Ashley Lo, Cynthia Liu, Front: Jocelyn Li, Joyce Kuo, Siena Merk, Patricia Chen, Ericka Wang, Coach Junior.)
Guys Varsity Basketball Team 2016 (L to R: Stockton Quinn, Audi Liu, Jeremy Wu, Henry Yu, Jason Liu, Kevin Chu, Jason Lin, Christian Furness, Haiway Chen, Todd Chou, Coach Slosek.)
DAY 1
The boys team went 1-1 on the first day of the tournament: cruised to an easy 30 point victory over BISS BJ, blowing them out. Then, they turned around and dropped a 20 point loss to BCIS. The girls team had similar results: gained their first victory over BISS BJ, but lost a tight game to SCIS.
DAY 2
The boys lost their first game of the day to RCHK by about 20 points, making it the second consecutive 20 point loss. However, they bounced back against NAIS PD with a 30 point victory. Then, they followed up with a solid 10 point win over SCIS. In this game, Jason Liu finally broke out, scoring 26 points on 80% shooting. The 2 wins were enough to get them a spot in the next round of the tournament, but only as the 4th seed due to a tiebreaker.
Jason Liu (10) The Hotshot
The girls team started the day out much better than the boys by crushing BCIS by 40 points. However, they would narrowly lose the next two games to RCHK and NAIS PD, giving them a 2-3 record, which was also good for 4th seed. Cindy Kao led the way for the girls team, averaging about 20 points per game throughout the first 5 contests.
DAY 3
In the first game of the next round, the boys played against RCHK, the first seed who had gone 5-0 in the preliminary round. Our boys fell behind early, trailing by 11 at halftime, but fought to take a 2 point lead going into the 4th quarter. However RCHK wasn’t just quite ready to give up their championship aspirations, and managed to keep it close throughout the final period. With 20 seconds remaining the Black Kites (RCHK) actually managed to tied it. Jason Liu drew a foul with 5 seconds left, and then hit both free throws to give KAS the lead. Owen Li of RCHK had a chance to win it with a half-court shot, but his desperation heave fell just short, and the dragons advanced to their 5th final appearance in as many years. Hayashi Shun and Jason Liu were major factors in the win, contributing 22 points and 16 points respectively.
HA-YA-SHI
The girls team put up a valiant effort against an undefeated SCIS team, but widespread injuries doomed them, with at one point almost half the team sporting some sort of injury. The loss meant that they would play RCHK again in the 3rd place game.
In the 3rd place game, they again put up a great effort and were able to keep the game tight despite the injuries. But in the end they just weren’t able to come up with the win.
The Championship game
The game started out slow for KAS, who dug themselves an early six point hole. But they quickly dug themselves out of it, jumping to a 10 point lead before halftime. The lead remained the same going into the fourth quarter, but that was when BCIS started to make a run. They made some pretty downright remarkable shots, and with about a minute left they actually took the lead. KAS scored on consecutive possessions and tied the game back up. BCIS ended up with the ball with 20 seconds left and had a chance to win it, but their fade away three-pointer bounced hard off the rim and the game went into the first overtime.
Our very own KASPER reporter STOCKTON
KAS started the first overtime out fast, scoring 6 quick points. Yet they were quickly matched by BCIS. With 14 seconds left, KAS ended up with the ball with a tied ball game, but a buzzer beating floater ended up short and the game went into the second overtime. The second overtime was a slow quarter for both teams, with the only 3 points were scored off BCIS free throws. With 14 seconds left and down three but with the ball, KAS had a chance to tie, but a three at the buzzer fell short and BCIS took the win.
Later at the award ceremony, Jason Liu, Hayashi Shun, and Cindy Liu were named all stars for their excellent performances.
