GUAM PULLS AWAY FROM CNMI

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By Robert Balajadia

Guam’s Tony Blaz finger rolls the ball towards the hoop with CNMI’s Darius Pettis defending. (photo by Jesse Castro)

The top seeded Guam U19 Men’s team will advance to the championship game Saturday evening after defeating the fourth seeded CNMI team 73-53 in the semifinal round of the Micronesia Basketball Tournament at the FD Phoenix center.

Guam led by eight points at halftime back when the two teams first met and managed to use a big third quarter push to run away with the game.  It was much of the same in their second meeting with Guam using a strong third quarter to get the upper hand.

Sammy Setik had 14 points for Guam and he commented on how tough CNMI played in the first half saying, “We thought that we were good enough but [CNMI] came out and showed us that we weren’t good enough.  We played more aggressive and got more boards in the second half.  When it came down to it, they really showed us that they it wanted more than us.”

CNMI’s Chris Mizer injured his ankle in the first quarter that required teammates to help him off the court.  Mizer made his return to the game mid-third quarter with the score tied at 35 but was still favoring his ankle.

Guam’s Michael Sakazaki with the fade away shot against CNMI’s Malcolm Maui. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Then Guam went on one of those runs.

In the closing minutes of the third quarter Guam’s Christian Payumo took control of the game by taking the ball to the basket where he drew three fouls, converted all six freebies, and a nifty baseline layup.  Payumo’s eight points in the third quarter was part of a 12-4 run after the return of Mizer, to give Guam the 49-39 lead at the end of three.

“I finally realized that they were coming out too aggressive so I used fakes to attack the middle and they were jumping on everything.  This game woke us up.  All our games were blowouts but now it’s a completely different story,” stated Payumo on his prolific third quarter.

Guam carried the momentum into the fourth quarter where Michael Sakazaki scored 11 of his team-high 18 points to secure Guam’s trip to the Micronesia Basketball Tournament Finals.

Bryl Alegre had a team-high 18 points for CNMI in the loss.

(WOMEN’S) PALAU 62, CNMI 59

The final spot in the women’s championship division for a chance to play the Guam U19 Women’s team came down to a single possession for Palau and CNMI.

CNMI was trailing 57-54 in the final minute of the game when Jaime Mendoza got to her sweet spot in the corner to sink a clutch three pointer for CNMI to tie the game at 57.  Wasting no time, Trinity Misech from Palau drove the ball to the heart of the CNMI defense were she flipped in a floater and got fouled in the act for the and-one play that got the Palau fan base off their seats.

Misech converted the free throw to push the lead to three, 60-57.

Palau’s Trinity Misech was instrumental down the stretch going up against CNMI’s Glorily Williams. (photo by Jesse Castro)

CNMI’s Rachel Abrams hit a hook shot on their next trip down to cut the lead 60-59 with under twenty seconds left in the game.  Palau’s Trang Ksano went for the kill by shooting a three-pointer that nearly went in and CNMI grabbed the rebound but quickly turned it over which led to an and-one lay in for Ksano to push the lead to 62-59.

Ksano would miss the free throw and CNMI would get the rebound and a foul which forced them to take the ball out of bounds with under five seconds left.  The inbound pass sailed Mendoza while Palau recovered it to run out the final five seconds to defeat CNMI to advance to the finals where they will play the Guam U19 team.

Palau trailed 46-41 heading into the final quarter but used a 24-point fourth quarter push to defeat CNMI.

Ksano led Palau with 25 points, including six three pointers while Misech added 13 points.  Abrams led CNMI with 14 points while teammate Glorily Williams added 11.

(MEN’S) PALAU 63, U16 GUAM 58

A day after losing to the U16 Guam team, Palau took the rematch in dramatic fashion.

Both teams started the fourth quarter tied at 46 when Palau’s Raddison Dorado and Guam’s Aljurrell Grape put on their clutch capes for an exciting fourth quarter.

Grape scored nine of Guam’s 12 points in the fourth quarter, taking command at the free throw line but it was not enough to hold off Dorado’s six points in the quarter.  Palau outscored Guam 17-12 in the fourth quarter.  Dorado finished with a game-high 23 points while Grape  finished with 16 points.

Palau had the jump on Guam early, leading 18-9 after the first quarter.  Guam responded with a strong second quarter to take the lead 27-26.  The third quarter was a back-and-forth battle with both teams going tied through three.

Tyler Okiyama chipped in 11 points for Guam in the loss.  Palau had a collective scoring outing as a team aside from Dorado’s 23-point explosion.  Palau will now play the U19 Guam team whom they lost to on the opening day of the Micronesia Tournament.

TOURNAMENT RECAPS:

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

TOURNAMENT PLAYOFFS:

Men’s Finals:

U19 Guam vs. Palau @ 5 p.m.

(Third place : U16 Guam vs. CNMI @ 1 p.m.)

Men’s Semifinals:

U19 Guam def. CNMI 73-53

Palau def. U16 Guam 63-58

Women’s Finals:

U19 Guam vs. Palau @ 3 p.m.

(Third place: U16 Guam vs. CNMI @ 11 a.m.)

Women’s Semifinals

U19 Guam def. U16 Guam 75-29

Palau def. CNMI 62-59

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

CNMI’s Jimmy Tudela stepped around Guam’s Aaron Blaz to take the shot. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Guam’s Michael Sakazaki went for the short jumper with CNMI’s Malcolm Maui defending the hoop. (photo by Jesse Castro)

CNMI’s Chris Mizer shot the short jumper against Guam’s Michael Sakazaki. (photo by Jesse Castro)

CNMI’s Geraldine Castillo took the one hand shot around Palau’s defender Meangeldil Azuma. (photo by Jesse Castro)

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