Agape, SIS draw first blood

Agape Christian School players and coach Noel Puno, standing right, pose for a group photo before heading to Grace Christian Academy to play their debut game in the middle school division of the COPSSA caging last Tuesday. (Contributed Photo)

Agape Christian School and Saipan International School had winning debuts in the middle school division of the 2015-2016 Coalition of Private School Sports Association Basketball League which opened last Tuesday at the various school courts on Saipan.

Agape dominated Grace Christian Academy, 37-12, at the Eagles turf in Navy Hill, while SIS hosted Saipan Community School and also cruised to a 37-22 victory. Both matches were in the boys division.

Dawei Cai gave the Torchbearers a good start in the six-team division, as he scored a game-high 15 points. Haoyu Chen also finished in double figures in Agape’s season opener, firing 13.

Agape used its ceiling advantage to take control of the game right at the get-go en route to its 25-point winning margin.

Cai knocked in three field goals and outgunned the entire Eagles crew to lift the Torchbearers to a 10-4 lead. Chen drilled the two other baskets for Agape, while GCA’s lone field goal came from Claude Aquino.

Agape slowed down in the second period, making only 4 markers off Chan’s 2 points and Shonyou Du and Cai’s splits, but the Eagles had another 2-point production from Aquino’s second field goal, allowing the Torchbearer to build a double-digit lead at the break, 14-6.

At the resumption of the match, GCA finally managed to outscore Agape, 8-5, behind Aquino’s 6 points and Sejin Kim’s deuce, and cut the deficit to 7, 19-12. The Torchbearers lost the twin-digit advantage as Cai and Chen went scoreless in the third and Tianrui Zhang, Tychicus En, and Enlin Zou combined for two field goals and one free throw.

However, that was the closest that GCA could get, as it failed to light up the board in the final canto, while Cai finished strong, adding 6 more points. Chan also tallied 6 markers in the fourth quarter, while Lue Xiong chipped in 4.

In other results last Tuesday, the Geckos also led from start to finish to start their title defense on a winning note.

SIS won last year’s boys middle school championship after routing Mt. Carmel School in the finale, 44-27. MCS, on the other hand, prevailed in the girls finals after downing GCA, 28-12.

Mt. Carmel also played in the opening day against Seventh Day Adventist, but results of the girls and boys division matches last Tuesday were unavailable at press time.

Games in the middle school league are played every Tuesday and Thursday with the participating teams playing in double-round robin elimination. Playoff matches are scheduled from March 1 to 4 with the format yet to be determines. There are six teams in the boys division and only three in the girls.

Yesterday, MCS’ boys team was slated to meet GCA at the former’s court, while the two other matches featured SIS vs Agape and SDA vs SCS.

ACS 37—Cai 15, Chen 13, Xiong 4, Zhang 2, En 2, Zou 1.

GCA 12—Aquino 8, S. Kim 2, Hahn 2.

Scoring by quarters: 10-2, 14-4, 19-12, 37-12.