Basketball teams win championships

  Basketball leagues on Saipan concluded one after another last week.

In the UFO caging at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, the U14 division of the Docomo Pacific Cup ended with Division of Youth Services/Samahang Manggagawang Filipino winning the crown after clobbering VisMinda/Hi-Five in the finals, 114-44.

In the U20 division of the Docomo Pacific Cup, the finale was a close match with DYS/Bayani working its way back from a 5-point deficit in the final 1:54 of the match to pull off a 74-69 victory.

Still in the UFO league, MDX/Armatech won the Master Budweiser Cup championship after outlasting Bayani/LBT Appraisal in the winner-take-all finals, 78-62. MDX notched its second straight masters title and finished the season undefeated in eight games.

In the Blue Haus caging at the Garapan Basketball Court, DLX/Irish Spring needed extra five minutes to eke out an 81-80 win against QQ Rent A Car and secure the championship.

Over at the Gualo Rai Basketball Court, KFC/Taco Bell downed Team Pogi in the one-game-finals, 68-49.

Other on-going competitions on Saipan continued last week with the Chamolinian league having its slow-pitch league at the Capital Hill Ballfield and Saipan Major League Baseball playing at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios.

In off-island tournaments, the CNMI was represented in two events.

Saipan pro triathlete Mieko Carey was in Yonago City in Japan and joined the Kaike Triathlon. She finished fifth in the women’s division despite having stomach problems, timing in at 10:00:27.

In Guam, the CNMI Men’s and Women’s Nationals participated in the EAFF Asian Cup 2013 Preliminary Competition Round 1 at the Leo Palace in Yona. The Commonwealth’s female strikers were the first one to play in the EAFF qualifier and bowed to Guam, 0-6. The Men’s Nationals also had their first match against Guam and lost, too, 1-3. The CNMI bets went on to drop their second and last games in the qualifier with the men’s falling to Macau, 1-5, and the women’s absorbing a 0-11 spanking at the hands of the tough Hong Kong crew.

For good news, athletics’ Lia Rangamar and Rachel Abrams notched their second straight NMASA monthly award after making it to the June top performers list. Rangamar took the NMASA Female Athlete of the Month for her bronze medal finish and record-breaking throw in the javelin event of the Oceania championships last month.

Abrams claimed the TSL Foundation/NMASA Female Student Athlete of the Month award for setting a new personal best time in the 100m run and helping the CNMI win a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay race in the Oceania meet.

Sharing the student award honors with Abrams was tennis’ Michael Ren, who dominated both the singles and doubles events in the U12 division of the 2012 North Pacific Qualifying Tournament played in Guam last month.

By Roselyn Monroyo
Reporter