By Robert Balajadia
The JFK Islanders toppled the St. Paul Warriors Tuesday evening and the Tiyan Titans held down the Guam High Panthers as the GSPN Preseason Basketball Tournament is approaching it’s final rounds.
Islanders 76, Warriors 67
JFK closed the 3rd quarter on a momentum stealing run to propel towards the big victory. Down 52-43 in the final four minutes, the Islanders closed the quarter on a 12-1 run to take a 55-53 lead. Rim protection from Islanders Jonah Hahn, who had five blocks on the night, and post playmaking from Chris Morikami kept JFK ahead for good.
The Warriors got 20 points from DeAngelo Gallardo and 18 from Jahmar White, but the all-around effort from JFK proved too much as St. Paul made their tourney exit after reaching the championship game in 2017.
Titans 59, Panthers 52
Marc Evangelista was clutch for the Titans on both sides of the ball, scoring five of the teams final seven points to go along with five big blocks was enough to hold off an 18-point night from Raven Taitague. The Titans will advance to the next round Thursday.
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 Scores
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)
DID U KNOW?
Frank ‘The Crank’ Camacho was a competitive youth golfer in Saipan with dreams of making it to the PGA.
QUICK HITS
(AP/Carlos Osorio)
