Rollers dissipates Typhoons in U16

From left, Freddie Pelisamen, Lucio Aldan, Leo Naraja, and Frankie Satur pose with their trophy and championship rings around their necks after winning the U16 division of the Mariana Islands Basketball League 3×3 Season 2 tournament last Sunday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (Mark Rabago)

Rollers outscored Typhoons at crunch time in the U16 championship of the Mariana Islands Basketball League 3×3 Season 2 tournament last Sunday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

Eventual age group MVP Leo Naraja, Frankie Satur, Freddie Pelisamen, and Lucio Aldan uncorked a 4-2 run in the final 2:04 of the 10-minute game to foil the visitors’ upset hopes 19-15. It was the second U16 championship for the Rollers as they also won the division of the Summer Heat 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament on Tinian the weekend prior.

Pelisamen scored with 1:15 left on the game clock to start the run for Rollers to give them a 16-13 lead. Jose Manglona and Tano King would retaliate for the Typhoons and make it 15-16 with time down to 52 seconds.

However, Naraja would dash Tinian’s hopes of a comeback with his own foray to the basket to give Rollers some breathing room at 17-15 with 34 ticks remaining in the exciting finale.

Missed shots by a scrambling Typhoon side ensued in the final seconds of the game before Rollers gave the coup de grace when the 6’2” Satur, the nephew of CNMI Hall of Famer Tony, connected on a 2-pointer to put the outcome beyond reach.

Naraja led the way for the championship team with 7 markers, while Satur and Pelisamen added 6 and 4 points, respectively. Aldan only scored 2 points but orchestrated the team to perfection with his ball control.

The 15-year-old Satur said it was bit rough going against the size and heft of Tinian, who primarily played two frontcourt players and one backcourt player.

“Them they’re big but I’m skinny and fast so I used my speed against them…at the end, our teamwork won,” he said.

Aldan, for his part, said he didn’t mind not scoring much the entire game as long as he set his teammates for easy buckets. He added that their strategy of exploiting mismatches led to their success in the game.

“We were looking for mismatches. They only have two guards and two bigs so whenever they put in two bigs and one guard, we always made sure to put in two guards and one big. So we can always exploit the mismatch,” he said. “They were leading in the early goings but that didn’t really worry us and we just stayed locked in as a team.”

In the open division, Hole in the Wall got the better of Mix Breed, 15-11, while Dream Girls put BB Girls to sleep early in a 21-8 shellacking in the women’s division.

IT&E and Cristiano’s served as the “MVP” sponsors of the MIBL 3×3 Season 2. Shirley’s Coffee Shop, Eats Easy, Hong Ye Hardware, The Angry Penne, Latte Built Gym, Hot Deals, and The Game Athletics also supported the event as “All-Star” sponsors.