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With a half dozen teams from the US and Canada entering the madness of the 2010 Youth NACBAIT Championships, there was no shortage of enthusiasm this year. Following Pool Play on Saturday, all six teams were seeded and bracketed for Sunday’s big Playoff contests. The three teams that looked like they had the best shots at making the most noise were the defending 2009 champion Toronto CCYAA Youth, 2007 & 2008 title winners NY USAB, and this year’s most poised athletic team- the Maryland Pistons. The Pistons and USAB 15’s had earned byes based on Saturday’s results, so they awaited the winners of the 2 Quarterfinal matches. The first game at 8am would be Harry Leong’s Philly Young Suns (1-1) v/s the NY USAB Biddys (0-2). These 2 squads have played each other quite a few times this year, so there wouldn’t be any surprises here. The Biddys knew they had to come up with a gameplan to stop Philly’s Jonathan Lai (6 pts) & his inside spin moves. USAB accomplished their task by using their superior footspeed to get easy transition points and to harass the Suns guards. Hanlan Huang (All-Tournament, 12 pts) put in a hard days work for Philly to try and make it a game, but Stephen Tang (10 pts) and Anthony Chang (16 pts, 4-6 FT) were double digit guys for NYC as USAB won 48-23. The next game was like layup lines for Toronto CCYAA Youth as they had a good warmup against the Montreal MMAC Mavericks. Montreal had some talent in guys like Yang Tan (6.3 ppg) and Jiankun Zhang (11.3 ppg), but CCYAA’s big game experience and depth were too much for MMAC. Andy Tan (8 pts) and Tim Wong (9 pts) led all 12 CCYAA who put points in the scorebook as Toronto moved on 53-14.

Both Semifinals ran simultaneously at Hoopdome, and up on Court 3 was NY USAB 15’s v Toronto CCYAA Youth in a rematch of last year’s Chip game. Last year, Toronto completed a remarkable double digit comeback to take a 40-39 win, with a little bit on controversy thrown in on a foul call as the clock hit 0:00. This year, CCYAA came back with a little bit of a different look as many of last year’s top performers aged out of the Youth program. USAB meanwhile, came back with more than a couple faces who had experienced the disappointment of a bummer loss. Toronto was led this year by PG Andy Tan, and the inside duet of Michael Chao & Brandon Rozario. USAB featured a whole roster full of interchangeable parts who are all very good for age, but a couple of kids stood out from the bunch including PG/SG Thomas Cui, marksman Doug Lee, and high scoring Erick Wong. USAB began the game looking for some big shots behind the arc from Doug Lee (2 trifectas), which gave them a quick 6-8 point cushion. As the game moved on, CCYAA would once again have the opportunity to make an historic comeback on their home floor, but Erick Wong (11 pts, 1-6 FT) and De Young Don (7 pts, 5-8 ft) were fired up enough to keep USAB in front until the end this time. USAB survived an uncharacteristic 11-24 free throw performance, as they prevailed 37-30. Zach Chen gave it his all, as he paced TO with 7. Over on Court 2, David Kung’s Maryland Pistons had a much easier time as they faced off with the NY USAB Biddys. Ervin Liang (4/6 Three-Pointers) was insane from long distance territory and Austin Liou (14 pts, 1 PF) was equally effective inside the arc as the Pistons had their heads held high after a 53-23 W. Anthony Chang had 7 for the Biddys.

This year’s big Youth finale was a Groundhog Day flashback to the 2008 Title game between the Maryland Pistons and the NY USAB Warriors 15. That time, New York got the best of Maryland. Since then, these teams have tipped it off against each other all up and down the East Coast countless times in local tourneys, although never with quite so much at stake. The Pistons have been also rans too many times over the years, so they were hungry for some big time hardware. USAB on the other hand, came in as a polished Youth program that has won many titles at the national level, and has performed well on the East Coast tourney slate since the Fall. But they had also come off an emotional Semifinal win that clearly took a lot out of them. SF Ervin Liang (All-NACBA, 14 pts, 2 treys, 2 PF) was too good to be true right from the start, and MVP Justin Kung (13 pts) was throwing rocks in the ocean as the Pistons had an answer for everything USAB threw at them. After taking a 33-15 halftime lead, it was only a matter of watching the clock tick down as the Maryland Pistons defeated NY USAB by the score of 49-29. Congratulations to the Pistons on their first NACBA Championship!

<< previous boys junior 18 & under division recap >>

Pool Y	W	L
1. Maryland Pistons Youth	2	0
2. Toronto CCYAA Youth	1	1
3. NY USAB Biddy	0	2

Pool YY	W	L
1. NY USAB 15	2	0
2. Philly Young Suns	1	1
3. Montreal MMAC Youth	0	2

NY USAB Biddy def Philly Young Suns
Toronto CCYAA Youth def Montreal MMAC Youth

Maryland Pistons Youth def NY USAB Biddy
NYUSAB 15 def Toronto CCYAA Youth

Finals
Maryland Piston Youth def NY USAB 15

All-Tournament Team
Justin Kung, Maryland Pistons Youth (MVP)

Ervin Liang, Maryland Pistons Youth
Erick Wong, NY USAB 15
De Young Don, NY USAB 15
Andy Tan, Toronto CCYAA Youth
Han Lan Huang, Philly Young Suns

Titans Prevail 18U Div.

Canton China to Montreal

DOUBLE UP