FAAD Region News
DSA Played Against LAPD

PRESS RELEASE: L.A. DEAF AWARENESS DAY: DSA VS. LAPD BASKETBALL GAME

On Saturday, September 24, 2011, the Deaf Sports Academy men’s basketball team had the privilege to play a game with the Los Angeles Police Department’s basketball team in honor of Los Angeles’ annual Deaf Awareness Day hosted by Council member Tony Cardenas. It was a game for the ages, with the DSA men’s team rallying against the high quality of the LAPD basketball team members and the game ended up being a well-fought battle from beginning to end. LAPD opened the game by jumping ahead with a big lead, 7-0, and then DSA roared back with a 12-0 run. Near halftime, LAPD had another 9-0 run within 2 minutes and when the game reached halftime, LAPD was leading by 14 points. In the second half, LAPD’s 3-point shooting was on fire, giving them a big 25-point lead. But that didn’t stop DSA from fighting back and hard, coming from behind with full court pressure. DSA won the second half battle by 1 point; however, the overall score showed that DSA lost to LAPD by 13 points, the final score being 107-94.

DSA player Jonathan Valencia led the team with 42 points, and his brother Joshua Valencia followed with 20 points. DSA had four remarkable post players in Steve Valencia-Biskupiak, Mike Bruning, Michael Lizarraga, and Bradley Miller. The LAPD officers had a total of 23 three-pointers and six of their players scored more than 10 points each. Jalani Janise of the LAPD led his team with 21 points. Jalani used to play for the University of Kansas and also used to be a teammate with a DSA player, Jeremias Valencia, when they both played for the American Basketball Association’s Ontario Warriors. In addition, Randy Allen scored 19 points and Robert Reynolds added 15 points. Five out of the eight LAPD players used to play for a Division 1 university basketball program.

Special thanks are extended to Roy Lopaty and Michael Torres for officiating the game, and David Biskupiak and Mark Corson for being the scorekeeper and statistician. Appreciation is also due to the LAPD, especially LAPD Officer Damien Levesque, for willingly being part of this event and making it happen, and to the 250+ fans who came to support the teams.

On a side note, the LAPD basketball team travels frequently and plays in local, national, and international games, similar to DSA. LAPD’s mission of playing with DSA inspires and motivates us to play even harder because the LAPD team is aware that four of DSA’s players have been selected to be on the United States men’s national basketball team for the upcoming PAN AM games hosted in Brazil this coming November. The LAPD players had just returned from the World Police and Fire Games in New York, where they played against 36 teams from all over the world and came home with the GOLD. They defeated the New York Fire Department, as well a team from Madrid, Spain, in order to win the gold. Check out this site for more information: 2011 World Police and Fire Games

The LAPD team’s gold is the exact same MISSION as DSA’s, which is to bring the GOLD home for the US national men’s basketball team. This is the first time in history that there are four family members on the same team at the same time. Check this website out for more information: PAM AM GAMES

Deaf Sports Academy website