Dalat Island Shootout Championship Game

By Luke Ng 

Throughout the two days at the Island Shootout Championship, both Dalat teams fought hard, with the girl's team having a perfect record and sitting at the first seed and the boys having lost only one game to be the 2nd seed.

Both Dalat teams were able to win the semis and advance to the finals. Once again, the varsity teams from ISKL and Dalat would face each other to determine who the Island Shootout champion would be. The girls played first and began the game on fire, hitting shot after shot. Midway through the game, Lauren Worten (12) got injured, and a sudden panic fell upon the fans and team: who would be without their primary scorer? However, the girls continued to persevere and showed grit, enabling them to finish the game strong and become the champions of the 2022 Island Shootout.

The final game of the entire tournament was the Dalat boy's chance at redemption after a first-game loss to ISKL. Dalat's starting five of Soo Wei Goh (12), Darryl Dwumfour (12), Noah Kaney (12), Sean Lee (10), and Luke Ng (12) stepped onto the court to battle ISKL for first place. 

Team captain Soo Wei (12) led the Eagles chant, which brought the crowd to its feet and got the energy going for the rest of the team. Dalat started the game playing hard and gained a 7-5 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. Somehow, ISKL still found a way to gain the lead on the Eagles, but the boys never gave up, and in the 4th quarter, Noah’s (12) defense caused ISKL to fumble the ball, which led to a big and-one put back by Luke (12) followed by a clutch three from Soo Wei (12), which gave Dalat a one-point lead. 

With only a few seconds left, the star of the ISKL team drove in, and a controversial foul was called that sent him to the line to win the game. With 13 seconds left, Dalat still had a chance to win the game but was unfortunately unable to due to a clutch block by ISKL and a possible missed foul call by the refs. Dalat fell short 40-41 and came in at second place.

Team captain Soo Wei (12) said in a post-game interview, "Although we fell short by 1 point, I'm proud of my boys. It's an experience that we can build on and learn from." 

Both teams will have a chance to face ISKL again next January, with the guys hopefully being stronger and better than their opponents. 

Co-Captain Noah (12) said, "There's still a lot of room for us to grow, but I'm especially looking forward to playing ISKL again in January.”