Guam completes dominance in MBT

Guam completed its dominating run in the 2015 Micronesian Basketball Tournament U15 with a methodical 75-40 win over the Marianas Dolphins in last Saturday’s finals at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Team Guam was unstoppable in the 2015 Micronesian Basketball Tournament U15 after beating the Marianas Dolphins, 75-40, in last Saturday’s finals at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Jon Perez)

Guam, which used the tournament as part of its preparation to the 2015 U16 FIBA Oceania tournament in December in Australia, swept all six games in the five-team field. They averaged 94.7 points a game while holding their opponents to 32.9 per outing.

“The scores are not an indicative of our performance. I told my players that we need to compete hard the whole game and keep their work ethic no matter what,” said Guam coach Brent Tipton, whose wards cruised to a 95-26 rout of the Marianas Alu’u in the semifinals.

“Dribbling, passing, and shooting are the main focus of our high school development program. We also work on our man-to-man defense in our every practice,” added Tipton.

They posted an average winning margin of 61.8 where their most lopsided win was a 117-5 thumping of the Marianas Tataga on Thursday, the final day of round-robin play.

Guam, against the Dolphins, had twice limited their score in the 40s as it also held their foes to 41 in their first meeting, 94-41, on July 13.

Guam held the Dolphins to just 6 points in the second period of their finals match up to pull away from a tight first quarter where they enjoyed a 19-12 spread.

The lead ballooned further as the game went on as Guam continued with their hot shooting, while challenging every Dolphins shot attempt.

Guam’s full court pressure defense also resulted in a number of steals and several turnovers that they converted into points at the other end.

Michael Min led all scorers with 15 points, while Napu San Luis chipped in 14. Holden Barcinas, Gabriel Simon, and Mark Temerowski had 7 markers each, while Aishea Grape, Eduardo Calvo, DeAndre Cruz, Tony Hseih, and Cloyd Rosas combined for 25 points.

Aaron Ogumoro was the lone Dolphin to score in double digits with 13, while Christian Arceo and Emmanuel Cobacha were held to 8 and 7 points.

Palau settled for third place following a 108-60 crushing of the Marianas Alu’u in the first game.

Wallace Worswick, who scored 17 in Palau’s 70-59 semis loss to the Dolphins, went berserk with a game-high 31 points with Omar Ganac ending up with 22, while M.J. Baysa tallied 11 markers,

Khalid Islam and Evan Miller scattered 17 points each for the Alu’u.

First Game
Palau 108 – Worswick 31, Ganac 22, Baysa 11, Canate 9, De Lina 8, Sungino 8, Goodall 6, Reklai 4, Tarkong 4, Stark 2, Timarong 2.

Marianas Alu’u 60 – Islam 17, Miller 17, Lizama 9, Itaas 8, Pangelinan 6, Norita 3.

Scoring by quarters: 19-12, 48-25, 79-43, 108-60.

Second Game
Guam 75 – Min 15, San Luis 14, Barcinas 7, Simon 7, Temerowski 7, Grape 6, Calvo 5, Cruz 5, Hseih 5, Rosas 4.

Marianas Dolphins 40 – Ogumoro 13, Arceo 8, Cobacha 7, Alipio 4, Factor 3, Mamaril 2, Mendoza 2, Dancoe 1.

Scoring by quarters: 19-12, 37-18, 57-28, 75-40.