MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii - For pride and bragging rights, in a "win or go home" competition, the Army-Hawaii men's and women's teams went two for two in the 2011 Interservice Basketball Tournament, here, March 6-10.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, hosted the tournament that had been on hold the past several years due to training and deployments.
Tryouts for Army men and women were conducted at Fort Shafter and Schofield Barracks. Seven men's teams competed in a double-elimination format; Army and Marines each had two teams, while the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard each had one team.
Only the Army and Marine Corps entered female teams.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Paulette Montgomery, 45th Sustainment Brigade, 8th Theater Sust. Command; and Sgt. Allison Lindsay, Tripler Army Medical Center, coached the Army's women's team. The coaches kept players composed and focused, as game leads crumbled, were exchanged and then finally won in the closing seconds of game one, 48-47.
Coaches called for more practice, since the final score was too close for comfort. The extra practice paid dividends for the women; Army won in the best two out of three championship games, going away 46-32.
Maj. Steve Howard, 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, coached the men's "Army 1" team, which was comprised of intramural players, as All-Army Basketball Program selectees had already departed for trial camp.
From day one, Army 1 made it known that everyone else was playing for second place in the double-elimination tournament. Outsized by the Navy and Marines, the Army team powered through the tournament with a solid game plan, emphasizing ball control, timely full-court presses, man-to-man and zone defenses, backboard control and free throw accuracy.
Army 1 beat "Marine Corps 2", 60-46; Air Force, 71-54; and Navy, 44-35, before beating "Marine Corps 1," 54-46, to claim the tournament championship.
Sgt. Johnny Lunn, Company G, 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Bde. Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, coached "Army 2," which was eliminated after two games.
Army 2 put up a gallant effort, but lost to the Air Force by only two points and the Marine Corps 2 team by four points.
In both men's and women's categories, the playing was aggressive, with lots of whistles - no quarter asked for and none given.
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