Following a weekend of basketball in Bangkok, the teams of ISM, ISKL, and JIS return home with a sense of the IASAS competetion this season.
On the girls side, ISM found the most success with easy defeats of the other schools. ISKL won all but their match against ISM, and ISB fended off a late surge from JIS to claim a win of their own.
A win in the pre-IASAS exchange is seen as a success for the girls, because last year’s rebuilding season saw the squad go winless in IASAS competition throughout the season.
Coach Jill Miller believes that the exchange will “greatly benefit us as we move forward in the season,” because “the team was required to play ‘smart’ basketball.”
The smarts of the girls’ play was evident, as they put up a real fight against the goliath ISM team. Strong showings at exchange only suggest that the girls are headed in the right direction.
The boys began the weekend with a 21 point drubbing of ISM on Friday on the back of a big night from Senior captain Ralph Huang. Friday night’s win was followed by an intense back and forth game against ISKL on Saturday morning which ended as a less-than-comfortable victory for ISB.
Confidence was high after two back-to-back victories, but JIS proved to be quite a challenge for the Panthers as the boys lost by a decent margin. Senior captain Afi Blackshear praises his team’s performance over the weekend saying “we stepped up and showed what we can do,” however; he emphasizes that “we really need to have a greater sense of urgency and intensity on the court.”
As with every team early in a season, there is much room for improvement. The team has identified the loss to JIS as a basis for motivation as all sights are now set on IASAS.
Will R
