Pohnpei, NMI win a championship each in 3×3 tourney

The NMI’s Shots Fired blasted through the women’s division of the 3×3 tourney and defeated 4 Locals in the finals on the last day of the 2023 NMI-Pohnpei Goodwill Basketball Games at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium last Friday. (LEIGH GASES)

Pohnpei I men’s team took home the championship trophy of the men’s 3×3 tourney, while NMI team Shots Fired won the women’s division last Friday night in the conclusion of the 2023 NMI-Pohnpei Goodwill Basketball Games at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Pohnpei I’s Connor Boylan, Shawn Aguon, Holden Ioanis, and Glen Torres battled it out against NMI’s team Pacemaker consisting of Greg Sablan, Jeff Castro, Jack Aranda, and Coby Santos, and defeated them in a blowout, 21-7 finals.

In the women’s division, NMI teams Shots Fired made up of Destiny Pangelinan, Yasmeen Younis, Mikki Kautz, and Madeleine Alegre came out on top of a close 16-13 game against the 4 Locals team consisting of Quina Flores, Cassandra Camacho, Kina Rangamar, and Raenna Ramarui.

Pohnpei I made their way undefeated through the tourney that began last Thursday, while Shots Fired suffered only one loss.

The Pohnpei I team poses with their championship trophy and medals after defeating NMI’s Pacemaker team in the 3×3 tourney finals on the last day of the 2023 NMI-Pohnpei Goodwill Basketball Games at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium last Friday. (LEIGH GASES)

Prior to the 3x3x tournament, the 5×5 goodwill games started last Monday and ended Wednesday, with Pohnpei men sweeping three games of the men’s division, while NMI women took two wins.

Pohnpei had one men’s and one women’s teams, while NMI had the Ol’Aces men and women teams, U17 Junior Nationals men and women teams, and Team Marianas men and women teams.

After the event, James Lee, president of the Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation, said that the tournament was a success.

He said that a few of the Pohnpei players have never played 3×3 before. As for NMI, he said that they’re pushing more on the 3×3 format in the near future so we should expect to see more of that and have a team represent NMI in the 2024 FIBA Asia Cup in Singapore.

As for what he thought of Pohnpei’s teams, Lee said “they are awesome. I applaud them. With limited resources that they have as well facilities-wise, they kept it together… They have a lot of new players like we do, but we definitely have a lot of catching up to do. So, we gotta train hard.”

He then said that Pohnpei is willing to host the NMI next year and said that they would definitely love to go. “The whole objective of this is really to bring back that camaraderie—you know, they come and visit us and we visit them—and our athletes can make new friends and meet new people,” said Lee.

With this friendship tourney just between Pohnpei and NMI in lieu of the Micronesian Basketball Tournament, he said “Hopefully this will kind of stir things up with the remaining Micronesian islands and say ‘we gotta get going.’ We would love to host as we got the facility—the only thing we’re missing is the big scoreboard but we’re getting there. If they’re willing to come down here we’re ready to host—vice versa as well. If they’re even willing to host even just a 3×3 for MBT, we’re willing to go as well.”

He then thanked the visitors, MarPac, Grace Sablan, Tan Holdings, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, the volunteers, the table officials, the referees, and the NMIBF board.