KNIGHTS, ISLANDERS ADVANCE TO TOURNEY SEMIS

By Robert Balajadia

The final two days of the GSPN Preseason Tournament has come and four teams are still in contention for the 2018 title.

The defending tournament champions, the St. John’s Knights, were tested early, but managed to storm back to defeat the Tiyan Titans Thursday evening. Fresh off the heels of their big win over the St. Paul Warriors, the JFK Islanders ran through the Sanchez Sharks after holding their double-digit 1st quarter lead all throughout the game.

The Okkodo Bulldogs and FD Friars will play at 7 pm.

Knights 77, Titans 72

A full court press and a plethora of made shots from down town had the upstart Titans holding a 43-31 halftime lead over the defending tournament champion Knights. Playing without Takumi Simon who is still nursing an injury suffered a night before, the Knights turned to Michael Min who poured out a game-high 30 points while teammate Tony ‘Hoops’ Hsieh added 19.

The Knights deployed their own version of the press as they held the Titans to just nine 2nd quarter points while exploding for 25 as they took their first lead of the game 56-52. Min was much in the clutch scoring the first nine points of the final period as well as a big three-pointer to give the Knights a 75-68 lead with just a minute left in the game.

St. John’s will advance to the semifinals Friday evening as they prepare for a rematch against the JFK Islanders at 5:30 pm at the FD Phoenix Center.

Islanders 65, Sharks 37

The JFK Islanders grabbed hold of an early lead, led by 11 1st quarter points by Alschae Grape, and they never looked back. The Sharks struggled to score with the Islanders holding their 20-point lead from halftime all throughout the second half.

Day 5 – Winners Bracket

Bulldogs 46, Sharks 42
Friars 67, Knights 59

Day 4 – *Elimination Games

Islanders 76, Warriors 67
Titans 59, Panthers 52

Day 3 – *Elimination Games

St. Paul 65, Friars JV 29 – (Jahmar White – 18 points SP)
JFK 93, ND 30 – (Chris Morikami – 20 points JFK)

Day 2

FD 97, ND 28 (Kyle Gaitan – 31 points FD), (Holden Barcinas – 15 points ND)
JFK 80, Tiyan 60 (Alschae Grape – 27 points JFK), (Evangelista – 13 points THS)
St. Paul 62, Harvest 42 (Reo Aiken – 14 points SP), (Gaebeck Kim – 10 points HCA)
Guam High 61, FD JV 39 (Khalid Volious 18 points GH), (Ray Castro 16 poings FD JV)
*ELMINATION GAME* – Tiyan 75, Harvest 39 (Isaiah Guerrero – 21 points THS)
Guam High 73, ND 37 (Raven Taitague 22 points GH), (Holden Barcinas 13 points ND)

Day 1

Sanchez 43, Guam High 39 (Isiah Malig – 11 points SS), (Khalid Volious – 10 points GH)
St. John’s 64, JFK 59 (Michael Min – 26 points SJ) (Cloyd Rosas 13 points JFK)
FD 67, St. Paul 51 (De’Aundre Cruz 16 points FD), (D’Angelo Gallardo – 13 points SP)
Okkodo 50, Tiyan 40 (Christian – 14 points OK), (Isaiah Guerrero – 10 points THS)
Sanchez 67, Harvest 28 (Isaiah Malig – 12 points SS), (Henderson – 9 points HCA)
St. John’s 82, FD JV 38 (Takumi Simon – 33 points SJ), (Ray Castro – 11 points FD JV)