GUAM STANDS TALL AGAINST CHINA

By Jay Leon Guerrero

Despite geopolitical tension in this side of the globe, Guam hosted the Chinese men’s basketball team for a game at the UOG Calvo Field House Sunday evening.

Guam lost 86-78 against world powerhouse China, but despite the loss, the team still celebrated advancing to the next round of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers based on point differential in Pool C.

The top two countries in Pool C, China and Japan, have already advanced the main tournament to be played in August at Saudi Arabia with identical 5-1 records. The bottom two teams were Guam and Mongolia.

Mongolia defeated Guam on Thursday by 11 points. The Mongolian Team took on Japan hours before the Guam vs. China game was scheduled to tip off. Coaches and officials were on their phones monitoring the game between Japan and Mongolia and hoped for Japan to win by a large margin.

Mongolia took the lead early in the fourth quarter against Japan. Japan roared back (thanks, Japan) and won by a margin of 10 points.

So the scenario right before tip off was clear: to advance, Guam would either need to pull off a major upset vs. China or lose by less than 23 points to guarantee a ticket to the next round. The task was not going to be easy after China defeated Guam last year by a blowout score of 101-53.

“I knew the situation, but I didn’t let the team know. The game plan was to just play hard and compete against China,” said Guam’s head coach EJ Calvo.

The game tipped off Sunday afternoon at 5 pm, and a different Guam  team took the floor. A disappointing loss to Mongolia three days earlier motivated Guam to play hard against a Goliath Chinese team that had four 7-foot athletes.

After Guam scored very first point of the game, China went ahead and never let go, but Guam played aggressively and started the game trailing 19-16 after the first quarter. Guam trailed by as much as 16 points in the final quarter, and things were not looking good for the home team.

Guam went to veteran player Tai Wesley, as he thrilled the crowd to lead a comeback with three minutes remaining. The 38-year-old pulled out his old school ways, using his 6’7″ body to back down the younger Chinese 7-footers and scored six straight points, all in the paint, via spinning baseline drives and step back jumpers.

Vintage Wesley entertained the crowd late in the game and despite being on the losing end, the home crowd rose to their feet to show appreciation to the Guam squad for standing tall in defeat to the higher-ranked and much taller Chinese.

“These guys (China) are all young, and they all play professionally,” said Wesley. “I’m pushing 39, and I have a 9-to-5 desk job, but I love this game so much that it’s like a drug for me to go out and compete.”

“It’s a high for me. Playing at this level and still being successful. It truly is like a drug to me,” added Wesley. Wesley’s second-half heroics against a variety of 7-footers had fans applauding his efforts after the game with autographs and photos.

Wesley had another memorable game for Guam, ending the contest with a game-high 32 points, 12 were scored in the fourth quarter. Simon scored all of his eight points in the final quarter.

7’3″ center Hansen Yang led China with 19 points and nine rebounds. Team captain Rui Zhang had 15 points, five assists, and five rebounds. “The Guam Team is a very skillful team, and I give them credit for playing very aggressively,” said Zhang.

Galloway and Ernest Ross also had big games for Team Guam. The crowd pleasers had 17 and 16 points, respectively.

NOTE: Guam was a 36.5 point underdog going into the game

What’s next for Guam?
“We now wait for a schedule to play against Thailand and Taiwan. There’s three teams that finished third in their pools, and only two teams will advance to the Asia Cup in Saudi Arabia,” said Calvo. “We just have to remain ready and do our best next month.”