POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
The Marshall Islands was in the same pool than Guam and was hoping to clinch the second place ahead of Yap and Pohnpei. Despite an opening loss to Guam, the Marshall Islands managed to bounce back and secured a berth in the semifinals. Robert Pinho and Gabriel Lait has been the offensive leaders of this squad while Wayne Anjain is playing a more team-oriented game. The RMI will now face Palau in a much-anticipated semifinal contest.
Marshall - Guam: 49-63
RMI was forced to play against the tournament's favourite Guam for its first game but the game was closer than expected. Both teams were tied at 43-43 after three period with a great effort from Robert Pinho (15pts), but in the last period Jine Han led Guam to a 20-6 run and the marshalleses didn't have any fuel left in their tanks. With a short 7-man rotation, the Marhsall Islands were missing depth on the bench.
Best Players: Robert Pinho 15pts, Gabriel Lait 10pts and Damien Capelle 6pts 9rbs
Marshall - Yap: 74-73
Maybe they were still tired from the Guam game but the marshalleses were very disapointing in this game, unable to deal with a pretty weak Yap squad. Facing elimination, RMI managed to stay in the game and snatched an heart-breaking one-point victory in the dying moments. The coach decided to play with a deeper rotation and everyone played at least 7 minutes. As usual Robert Pinho and Gabriel Lait did most of the job but they received a great help from Bolear Bokna.
Best Players: Robert Pinho 22pts 10rbs, Gabriel Lait 20pts 6rbs and Bolear Bokna 12pts 8rbs
Marshall - Pohnpei: 77-63
Both teams were playing for the last spot in the semifinals and the game was close in the first half with RMI leading only by one (36-35). Thanks to a better FG shooting percentage (39.5 vs 30.1), the Marshall Islands managed to extend their lead in the second part of the game. Gabriel Lait led his side with 23pts and Robert Pinho added 21pts.
Best Players: Gabriel Lait 23pts 6rbs, Robert Pinho 21pts 5rbs and Wayne Anjain 7pts 11rbs
Prevision:
The Marshall Islands did their best in this pool and managed to reach the semis, they will now face Palau. Robert Pinho and Gabriel Lait were great in the pool phase but the coach might look for a third offensive weapon. Wayne Anjain, who has been more team-oriented so far, could be this player. Palau also have depth troubles so the RMI short rotation won't be a real problem. The key of this game would be the rebounds and the defense.
Stats:
Robert Pinho 19.3pts 6.0rbs 1.3ast
Gabriel Lait 17.7pts 4.0rbs 1.7ast
Bolear Bokna 7.5pts 4.5rbs 0.0ast
Jeffrey Loeak 5.7pts 7.0rbs 2.0ast
Damien Capelle 3.7pts 6.0rbs 0.7ast
Wayne Anjain 3.7pts 7.3rbs 3.3ast
Joe Jotai 3.3pts 0.3rbs 1.0ast
Nathaniel Lometo 2.7pts 2.3rbs 0.3ast
Casey Sualau 2.0pts 1.0rbs 0.5ast
Jommy Lawin 2.0pts 1.0rbs 0.0ast
Mark Stege 1.3pts 3.7rbs 0.0ast
Arry Lang 0.7pts 2.0rbs 0.3ast
