Team Marianas split Day 3 of basketball friendlies

Team Marianas’ Coby Santos gets the ball smacked out of his hand by Pohnpei’s Glen Torres during during Day 3 of the 2023 NMI-Pohnpei Goodwill Basketball Games in a raucous Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium Wednesday night. (LEIGH GASES)

Day 3 of the 2023 NMI-Pohnpei Goodwill Basketball Games resulted in a split between the two delegations as Team Marianas women and men laced up against a rough and tumble Pohnpei team.

Team Marianas women put on quite a show for a sellout crowd in the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium on Wednesday night for a win over Pohnpei, 58-42.

Coming back from a loss the night before, Destiny Pangelinan found herself in the middle of the action in this game as she sought vengeance against a combative Pohnpei women’s roster.

Pangelinan doubled down in this game as she just came off an injury the night before, but still managed to finish in double digits with 20. Still heavily defended like the last game, Pangelinan had to fight her way through to the basket and as a result was fouled multiple times.

With Team Marianas down by 1 heading into the second quarter, they regrouped and found their rhythm and ended the quarter up by 7 points, 25-18. Kaia Travilla and Mikki Kautz then swished the net for 8 points apiece

Pohnpei’s Sylvania Seneres-Amor tried to lead her team for a comeback and put up 10 points for her efforts, followed by Vanessa Helgenber’s 9 points, but it was just not enough to stop the momentum of Team Marianas.

The women of Team Marianas clinched the win with a clean 58-42 final score.

Team Marianas men, on the other hand, lost to a more dominant Pohnpei men’s team in a blowout, 69-106.

The men of Team Marianas fought tooth and nail to be up by 1 point at the end of the first quarter, 19-18, but crumbled throughout the rest of the game when Pohnpei put out all their stops—from their no-miss offense to their hardcore defensive maneuvers.

With the crowd rumbling the gymnasium with their cheers with each shot made from both teams—it seemed more like a huge championship game than a friendly match.

The slick and speedy Coby Santos of Team Marianas was fouled many times as he was mostly the target of Pohnpei’s defense. Even with that, he ended the game with 16 points. Frankie Satur was the only other Team Marianas player with double digits with 11.

As for Pohnpei, although they’ve already played twice in a row before this game, didn’t seem fatigued at all—but rather, cranked up the heat of their game even more.

With control of the ball most of the game, Pohnpei reduced Team Marianas to just a little over 15 points per quarter as they smashed the ball from Team Marianas’ layup attempts and stole the ball on the pass—too quick for Team Marianas to catch up to.

Connor Boylan ended the game for Pohnpei with 19 big points, while Oppa Miingi shot 14, and Hart Yamada made 12.

Since the start of the tourney on Monday until Wednesday, NMI has won a total of two games, while Pohnpei scooped up three wins.

Last night was the start of the 3×3 double-elimination games sanctioned by FIBA. Today is the continuation at 5:30pm.

First Game

Team Marianas Women 58 – Pangelinan 20, Travilla 8, Kautz 8, Younis 6, Lumabi 5, Alegre 3, Bucalig 3.

Pohnpei Women 42 – Seneres-Amor 10, Vanessa Helgenber 9, Edward 7, Youngstrom 5, Adams 3, Ekiek 3, Nanpei 3, Joakim 2.

Scoring by quarters: 7-8, 25-18, 43-34, 58-42.

Second Game

Pohnpei Men 106 – Boylan 19, Miingi 14, Yamada 12, Helgenberger 9, Pluhs 9, Torres 8, Elias 8, Aguon 6, Mallarme 6, Ioanis 5, Jack 5, Primo 3, Shoniber 2.

Team Marianas Men 69 – C. Santos 16, Satur 11, Sablan 9, Raquepo 6, Aranda 5, Villarin 5, Castro 5, Fitial 3, K. Santos 3, Aldan 2, Tapay 2, Garcia 2.

Scoring by periods: 19-18, 34-51, 50-82, 69-106.