TRI-COLOURED JayHawks outgunned a formidable Merque five in the final, 35-31, to win the 2014 NSW Filos Basketball Cup at Marrickville Police-Citizens Youth Club on Sunday, June 8.
By RAY POLICARPIO
The new champions bested a field that included nine of Sydney’s basketball powerhouses: Amigos, Merque, FNC Miller, Rooty Hill BA, Juggesnaughts, FNC Pirates, Systems, and Manila Boys.
Four sets of brothers were mainstays of the JayHawks – Ata and Egange Ayuk, Chris and Emmi Woelders, Redmond and Jo Paolo Policarpio, Nay and Besh Sakya.
The team, which began training some months ago, was a rag-tag collection of former Clinton Toyota Campbelltown and JayHawks players spiritual Fil-Aust leader in Ricky Bautista.
In this tournament, it was bracketed in the “Group of Death” with the team of the decade and perennial champion Amigos in Group A.
They handily trashed the Manila Boy unit to the tune of 70-17. But they were up against the Amigos next who beat them in a 38-35 loss that resulted in a 1-win and 1-lose card to carry them over to the quarter-finals round on position 4.
They had to go through a ringer with a pesky Juggernauts squad led by Philippine collegiate player Joboy Flores.
There were some tense moments in the first half as the Jays barely muscled in a small lead, 22-16. Redmond Policarpio, Nay Sakya and Jude Villanueva had to compose themselves to get their bearings back as their long toms went in to anchor the blueshirts to a 58-43 win to nail semi-final slot number 4.
The blueshirts had to face the Amigos in the semi-finals. This was a do-or-die match with the loser being relegated to the doldrums and the winner gaining grand final seat number 1.
The Jayhawks had to re-think their strategy and came up with a pressing floating man-zone defence, an old school favourite. This resulted in building up a substantial lead in the first half only to relinquish it to the Best Center awardee Verge Alcantara exploits as the Amigos showed an 18-17 lead after the first half action.
The Jays had to re-group in the second half as brothers Egange and Ata Ayuk engaged their opponents in inside plays which served as ploys to get long shooters Jo Paolo, Nay Sakya and inside penetrator Redmond Policarpio make their shots that saw the blueshirts built a 40-31 lead going into the last minutes of the fourth quarter.
After that it was just bruising plays from both sides with the JayHawks quintet getting the better of it in a 46-43 semis win and the first grand finals slot.
Merque had an easy path, with wins against the Juggernauts, 48-39, a draw with Systems ,42-43, and another win against FNS Pirates, 52-39.
After a tiring semi-finals win, the Jays played lacklustre basketball against the other grand finalist MERQUE who had earlier beat FNC Miller to the score of 50-34. Krenz Carlos, Marlon Mañas, Galiber Cortez and elite player Byron Murphy made life miserable for the Jays as they thwarted their offensive plays for a 15-8 MERQUE first half lead.
It was frustrating for JayHawks stalwarts Nay Sakya, Jo Paolo and Redmond Policarpio who cannot crank up their offensive bearings as they missed shot after shot. It was only the offensive rebounding of muscly Ata with high-flying brother Egange Ayuk and rubberman Morris Gutierrez that made some sense of the Jays offensive ploys.
Cortez and Mañas continued with their inside forays for MERQUE but it took the gutsy plays of finals MVP Jude Villanueva to finally pull the Jays out off the brink of defeat and ran away with a stirling 35-31 win to capture the 2013 NSW Filos Basketball Cup – 7th edition at PCYC Marrickville centre.
The win elicited gestures of congratulations from everyone in the stadium including the vanquished teams of the tournament.
A grand day for surprises indeed.
JayHawks = Villanueva 12 Egange 8 Nay Sakya 6 Ata 3 Gutierrez 2 E Woelders 2
MERQUE = Carlos 9 Mañas 8 Cortez 4 Manuel 4 Murphy 2 Coronel 2 Morada 2
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Picture:
JayHawk,right, trapped by Marque defence.
