POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
This summer Yap played in the Micronesian Basketball Tournament held in the Northern Marianas Island. The small state was winless during this event but showed a nice level of play led by some interesting players. Yap is just missing a better defense and a deeper bench.
Results:
Pool phase:
Yap - Pohnpei: 82-94
Morri Money 24pts 8/13FG 6rbs
Erick Ruepong 22pts 8/14FG
Yap - Marshall Isl: 73-74
Morri Money 16pts 4/13FG 12rbs
Erick Ruepong 16pts 6/16FG 12rbs
Yap - Guam: 76-114
Morri Money 19pts 5/10FG
Erick Ruepong 13pts 5/10FG 9rbs
Classification games:
Yap - CNMI: 77-95
Andrew Ruepong 31pts 12/21FG 16rbs
Morri Money 11pts 3/10FG 4rbs
Yap - Pohnpei: 77-83
Morri Money 27pts 10/17FG 8rbs
Erick Ruepong 18pts 8/17FG 7rbs
Recap:
Five games, five losses, one can say that Yap's tournament was a nightmare but I tend to disagree with that. Yap lost only by 1 against RMI, the future Bronze medal winner, and the team displayed a great offensive play. Yap's style is based on shooting, when they hit the shots they can be dangerous but when the shots goes off they are in big trouble. Big trouble because defence seems to be a forbidden word for this team. No pressure, no defensive rebounding and a predictable offense, that was too much for Yap.
The backcourt is made of Kamal Walton and Erick Ruepong, JJ Yatilman and Johanes Waayam being their backups. Ruepong was a solid second option behind Morri Money, this shooting guard can hit the shots and grabb some rebounds. Kamal Walton was the sarting PG, unfortunatly he only played in 3 games but he was the team's leader in assists. JJ Yatilman had to step up to replace him and made a good tournament. Johanes Waayan provided a little help from the bench while his brother James didn't play at all.
On the wings, Morri Money teamed-up with Andrew Ruepong while Calvert Gibeyog, Mathias Yugbay and Sylvester Ruethin were on the bench. Morri Money was the team's leading scorer and obvious MVP, he's was one of the top players during this tournament and shot for 47.6% from the field, which is pretty rare in this event. Andrew Ruepong is more a team player but when he's hot, he can blow many defenses like he did against CNMI with 31pts 16rbs. On the bench, Gilbeyog was a good back-up while Yugbay and Ruethin didn't play much.
Andrew Ruepong also played some minutes as center to replace the starting 5, his brother, Arthur Ruepong. He's a pretty good player, able to set the picks and do the dirty works but he needs to work on his awful shooting skills. The last true center of the roster, Mark Fithing, played only 22 minutes overall in this tournament.
Stats:
Morri Money (G/F) 19.4pts 47.6%FG 6.4rbs 1.6ast 34min 5gp
Erick Ruepong (G) 15.2pts 40.8%FG 4.6rbs 1.4ast 29min 5gp
Kamal Walton (G) 10.3pts 45.8%FG 6.0rbs 3.0ast 27min 3gp
Andrew Ruepong (F/C) 9.6pts 33.3%FG 8.6rbs 1.6ast 28min 5gp
JJ Yatilman (G) 9.3pts 36.6%FG 3.5rbs 1.3ast 22min 4gp
Arthur Ruepong (C) 8.0pts 23.4%FG 8.4rbs 2.2ast 32min 5gp
Calvert Gilbeyog (F) 4.6pts 36.0%FG 2.4rbs 1.4ast 16min 5gp
Johanes Waayam (G) 3.0pts 27.3%FG 1.6rbs 0.6ast 11min 5gp
Mathias Yugbay (F) 2.5pts 33.3%FG 1.3rbs 0.5ast 8min 4gp
Sylvester Ruethin (F) 1.0pts 22.2%FG 2.0rbs 0.5ast 7min 4gp
Mark Fithing (C) 1.0pts 33.3%FG 1.0rbs 0.3ast 5min 4gp
James Waayam (G) DNP
Final Standings:
1- Guam
2- Palau
3- Marshall Isl
4- Kosrae
5- CNMI
6- Chuuk
7- Pohnpei
8- Yap
