3 teams take semis seats

Marianas Baptist Academy’s Hyun Jun Roh drives against a Grace Christian Academy defender during their boys high school division game in the 2017-2018 Commonwealth Coalition of Private School Association Basketball League last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Mt. Carmel School, Grace Christian Academy, and Agape Christian School earned automatic semis berths in the boys high school division of the 2017-2018 Commonwealth Coalition of Private School Association Basketball League as they finished in the Top 3 at the conclusion of the regular season.

The Knights led the early semifinalists list as they wrapped up the double-round robin contest with a 7-1 record, absorbing their lone loss at the hands of Agape, 55-59. Mt. Carmel then settled the score with its first round tormentor after whipping Agape last Thursday, 74-21. The Knights are the defending champions and will be gunning for their third straight division championship this year after whipping Marianas Baptist Academy in last season’s finale, 70-35, and Eucon International School, 55-46, two years ago.

The GCA Eagles, on the other hand, had the second best record in the five-team field with their 6-2 mark this season. GCA also won its final game before the playoffs after downing MBA last Friday, 55-44. The Eagles’ two defeats were against the Knights, 55-37, and 48-42.

Matthew Mamaril anchored GCA’s 11-point winning margin against MBA after scoring 22 points, including 11 in the third period. Minsu Park had 21 markers for MBA.

Agape joined GCA and Mt. Carmel to the semifinals after posting an even 4-4 mark. The Torchbearers managed to gain early cushion to make it to Final Four as they won their first four matches before dropping the last four—with the final one against MBA, 56-70.

MBA was ranked fourth with its 3-5 record and will be playing Saipan International School for the fourth and last semis ticket today at 3:30pm at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. The Geckos are winless in the regular season, leaving MBA the highly-favored team to advance to the next round.

In the semis, which will be played this Thursday, the winner in the MBA-SIS tiff will challenge the No. 1 seed Mt. Carmel at 3:30pm. Then in the second Final Four tiff at 4:30pm, it will be GCA versus Agape. The survivors of the pair of semis matches will collide for the title this Friday at 4:30pm, after the 3:30pm finale in the girls high school division.

The girls championship are contested by two Mt. Carmel teams, Agape, and MBA. MCS 1, which was perfect in the regular season with its 6-0 mark, will meet MBA in the first semis game tomorrow at 3:30pm, while MCS 1 and Agape will battle in the other Final Four match at 4:30pm.