OCEANIA: GUAM SPLITS AGAINST NEW CALEDONIA

U19 Oceania Basketball Championships in Fiji

DAY 2

The Guam men’s U19 team appeared to be in control of the game against New Caledonia, but a 4th quarter swing where New Cal outscored Guam 21-9 in the final period gave Guam their first loss of the tourney. Kurtis Silva led Guam with 18 points, but the team shot an overall of 23% from the field.

Guam led 27-22 at halftime and jumped out to as much as 11 (34-23) before giving way to the New Caledonia attack.

New Cal was led in scoring by Samuel Axel Abenzoar with 16 points while also getting a big lift from their bench led by Jason Prevot and Petelo Taputai, who scored 11 points each. New Caledonia’s bench outscored Guam’s bench 31-12. Guam is now 1-1 in tournament play. New Caledonia picked up its first win after getting mauled by Australia 112-38 in the first day of competition.

For the ladies, Guam’s Destiny Castro was HUGE against New Caledonia, netting 36 points, 19 rebounds and 8 steals to lead Guam. Castro willed Guam to the win after trailing at the half. Adeline Souque led New Cal with 13 points and 8 rebounds while getting a balanced scoring effort from the entire team.

Castro was the only player from Guam in double digits as the girls now advance to 2-0 in the tourney, while New Caledonia dropped its first game.