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From January 31 to February 4, boys varsity basketball team travelled to Taejeon, Korea for the APAC basketball tournament. This is the last tournament of the season and perhaps the most important one as well. This year, Taejeon Christian International School (TCIS) hosted the tournament; a total of six international schools from Asia participated in the tournament, including American International School of Guangzhou (AISG), Seoul Foreign School (SFS), Hong Kong International School (HKIS), United Nations International School (UNIS), Concordia International School of Shanghai (CISS), and TCIS.
The tournament lasted for three days. Each team played 6 games in total: 5 round robin games and one final game. On the first day, AISG boys played the two best teams in APAC: HKIS and SFS. For AISG, a team that focuses on defending the paint, SFS and HKIS had great perimeter shooters which made defending them very difficult. AISG lost to both teams by a great margin, but after the losses, the boys team coach Mark Elliott remarked, “It is good that we played the two toughest teams in APAC. Playing them make our team tougher both physically and mentally and also realize the standards of APAC.”
On the following day, AISG played against TCIS and CISS. Playing against TCIS was tough since TCIS truly showed what home court advantage was. The court was filled with chants for TCIS; TCIS elementary to high school students took part in cheering for their varsity basketball team. Nevertheless, AISG defeated the team by successfully guarding their best player who was exceptional at dribbling and driving to the basket. In this game, freshman Elom Kuwonu shined by pouring 19 points including a couple of crucial jump shots in the 4th quarter.
Playing against CISS proved to be a new, valuable experience for AISG. The game became very heated as both teams’ players became physical. Both sides’ coaches gradually raised their voices to talk to and argue with the referee about not calling certain plays as fouls. As the atmosphere became intense and heated, the referee called a double technical foul on Coach Elliott—as a result, he was ejected from the game with about 25 minutes still remaining in the clock. With absence of the head coach, assistant coach Scott Seiple and AISG boys became more cooperative and put in concerted efforts. Despite losing to CISS by about 15 points in the end, AISG boys proved that when adversity hits, they could overcome the troubles by supporting each other.
The last day, AISG played their last round robin game against UNIS. Complacency was the achilles’ heal for AISG: underestimating the opponent resulted in a loss for AISG. UNIS attempted less than 7 shots in the paint during the game, but their midrange jump shots were on point. They poured midrange shots over and over, yet AISG did not defend their perimeter shots at all. The competition was tight throughout the entire game, but in the 4th quarter, UNIS outscored AISG by about 5 points and became victorious.
After all the round robin games ended, AISG became the 5th seed team in the tournament which sent the team to 5th-6th place game against UNIS. AISG had already lost once to UNIS which made the boys more vicious and eager to win the game. The game started off very similarly with the first game against UNIS—the score gap between the two teams was never above 10 points. In the last minutes of the 4th quarter, AISG suffered a scoring drought while UNIS still made a shot or two. It appeared as if AISG would lose again when the score deficit reached 5 points with only about 2 minutes remaining. However, the upperclassmen or the veteran of AISG stepped up to turn back the winner of the game. Junior Eagle Cheng penetrated UNIS’s defense and scored an and-1 lay up. The highlight of the game was when there was about 5 seconds remaining in the game clock and AISG was still trailing by 3 points. The team captain senior Andrew Renfrow dribbled up the court, pulled up in front of the 3-point line, and banked in the shot to tie the game. This shot forced the game to go into overtime and AISG, already hyped up from Andrew’s shot, eventually cruised their way to victory.
“In the previous game against UNIS, I missed the 3-point shot to win the game. I knew I had to take it again this time for our team. When I first released the shot, I was unsure if it would go in, but thankfully, the shot went in. I think it’s a really great and memorable way to end my basketball career in high school,” said Andrew Renfrow after the tournament.
AISG finished off as 5th place in the APAC tournament. That night, all teams in APAC including boys and girls teams participated in the award ceremony. All-APAC awards were given to one or a few best player(s) for each team, and for AISG boys, it was undoubtable that the team captain, senior Andrew Renfrow, received the award for displaying a fabulous performance and leadership throughout the tournament and making the game-tying buzzer-beater in the final game.
The long basketball season has finally ended. AISG boys have come a long way during the season and as Coach Elliott has said, this year’s basketball team was “one of the most improved teams in his coaching career.” Next year, there would be shifts within the team as players graduate or leave from AISG, but AISG varsity boys basketball team will continue to play hard.
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