New York Fishmen Reels in Inaugural Men's Masters 45 Title

The inaugural Men’s Masters 45 & Over division was a big hit, as these living legends hit the courts to show that they can still play the game they love.  With throngs of excited family members looking on, it was like a mini-vacation for these teams.  Round Robin play was headlined by the NY Fishmen’s undefeated 3-0 performance, while the remaining three teams were all left battling it out for the table scraps.  With Philly, Toronto, and Montreal all evenly matched, it came down to point differentials and Philly came out second, followed by Toronto and Montreal.  In the first Semifinal, the NY Fishmen met the Montreal MMAC Masters.  While most people expected a day at the beach for the Fishmen to advance without much of a contest, Montreal had other ideas.  With Arthur Hong (8 pts) jaying it up from the outside and Casey Wu (8 pts) finishing inside, the game remained close the whole way through.  But in the end, it was the depth of the NY lineup as Montreal’s thin roster of 6 signaled their doom.  NY moved on 33-27.  Big Wing Lau was the savior for NY with 6 points and 7 rebounds.  The second Semifinal was a low scoring affair when Toronto CCYAA squared off with the Philly Suns.  With Philly missing the long distance shooting services of Stosh Eng and Whitey Lee, they simply couldn’t find a way to put the ball in the basket.  Toronto looked towards All-NACBAIT forward Alex Chen (14 pts, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals) to take over.  At halftime, the score was a paltry 12-5 with the Canadians up.  The second half was just as low scoring, and Toronto marched onwards 23-14 in one of the lowest scoring games of the tournament.  Wiz Ling had 2 threes for the Master Suns.  The Finals game matchup was the NY Fishmen and the Toronto CCYAA Masters.  Toronto came out and controlled the pace, taking an 11-7 halftime lead.  In the second half, NY’s size and toughness became the key.  The Fishmen patiently worked the ball inside to Ken Chan as he tallied double figures after halftime.  With the Fishmen taking the lead, Toronto was forced to foul.  Star forward Alex Chen ended up fouling out and NY’s Mike Jung sank 5 of 6 FT’s to ice it 30-24 in a well played game.  Congratulations to Paul Gong and his Fishmen.