January 4, 2008
More from Moor - St. Mary’s wins San Diego tourney
Coming up on the beginning of league play, St. Mary’s of Berkeley has retained its undefeated record on the season. A trip down south this past weekend added three more wins as junior point guard Aalim Moor (pictured) explains.
Aalim Moor
After a hard fought and competitive game against Castlemont High of Oakland -- which we won 63 to 57 -- and having one of my most challenging personal tests of the season guarding one of the top guards in the class of 2008, Vic Sandifer, we got on a plane and headed down to San Diego for the Surf n’ Slam Tournament, December 27 -29.
The tournament was very competitive, each team was well coached and each played us very physically. Our first game against Gig Harbor (WA) was really up tempo as they spread the court and shot it fairly well early. Then University City (San Diego) displayed very good guard play, plus some nice size down low and they tried to press us. But we adjusted to each of their strategies and overcame both opponents with tough defense, good ball movement and our team speed.
Fierce competitors on the court, Moor and Amador Valley’s Justin Standley are good friends off it
The championship game was a lot tougher and we had to play a great deal harder against a very good and physical Amador Valley (Pleasanton) team. They showed us some different looks: pressing us full court, playing zone and man-to-man defensively, running half-court sets and also the fast break offensively. But our coaches made the adjustments and we overcame all that was thrown at us.
My cousin, Will Brew, was the MVP of the tournament. He is playing at another level right now and shooting the ball like a D-1 college player. Chris Brew (all tournament team) is attacking the rim and dunking on anything moving. Soph Dominique Lee (player of the game against Amador Valley) is ‘beasting’ everybody and flying to the hole at will, Just Shields and Marcus Semien are shooting the lights out and Demetrius Lee is playing very solidly and with a lot of energy.
I’m doing what I always try to do: keep the team flowing, keep the ball moving, motivate the guys and get after and play the other teams’ guards hard on D! My stat line in the championshp game was 6 points, 8 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 steals and 4 rebounds.
The final game was fun and real intense for me -- being a championship game -- so I was already focused, juiced and amped up. But I also had another motivation. I was playing against one of my best friends and former AAU teammate, Justin Stanley, the lead guard from Amador Valley. In my opinion, he is one of the most underrated and talented guards in the class of 2009. He averaged at least 20 points a game in the tournament, was a real leader on their team, kept his teammates fired up all the time and was rewarded by being named to the All-Tournament team. It was a heated battle all night as we really went at each other. We pushed, had a few things to say to each other during the game and played hard like we used to play at Rainbow Recreation Center in East Oakland as kids. He hit a couple of tough shots, but I hounded him on D all game and we got the W this time...but he’s still my partner and I know I’m still his!
We are 14-0 so far and staying humble and hungry. We have some really big league games coming up soon and we are taking them all very seriously...one game at a time.