POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
This summer Kosrae played in the 2006 Microgames Basketball Tournament in the Northern Marianas Island and was the best of the federated states of Micronesia. The team led by the Kibby brothers managed to reach the semifinals but was unable to steal a medal. Let's make a recap of Kosrae performances there.
Results:
Pool Phase:
Kosrae - Palau: 62-72
Freddy Kibby 16pts 3/14FG 11rbs
Terrence Kibby 11pts 5/13FG 9rbs
Kosrae - CNMI: 62-54
Freddy Kibby 15pts 7/19FG 15rbs 5bs 4st
Terrence Kibby 11pts 5/14FG 8rbs
Kosrae - Chuuk: 84-59
Terrence Kibby 26pts 11/22FG 7rbs 6ast 10st
Freddy Kibby 24pts 10/15FG 12rbs 5ast
Semifinals:
Kosrae - Guam: 75-98
Freddy Kibby 19pts 8/12FG 7rbs
Alik Palik 13pts 6/11FG
Bronze medal game:
Kosrae - Marshall Isl: 75-85
Freddy Kibby 25pts 10/23FG 11rbs 5st
Kilafwa Palik 22pts 8/20FG 6ast
Recap:
Kosrae is a family team with 3 Kibby brothers, 2 Palik and 2 Alokoa but this team os missing one thing the most: deep. The coach has to play with 6 players for most of the games while the others 6 didn't bring much out of the bench. Center Freddy Kibby is the team's leader and go-to-guy, a real powerhouse in the paint able to score, get the rebounds and find the open teamates. A strong Guam team cut him off the ball, in the semifinal against the guamese he only shot 12 times while he shot 20 times in the other games. His brother Terrence Kibby was a great help for him, especially in the pool phase. He averaged 16.0ppg 44.7%FG in the first three games but only 7.0ppg 26.3%FG in the last two. Terrence is a good player, he needs to be more constant to provide a solid second option but he was the team's best man in defense and played 36 minutes per game which is pretty tiring in the South Pacific weather. Ari Skilling was a perfect addition to this two inside players, he could hit the open shots and play a solid defense but he's not a leader and can't create his own shots like the Kibby brothers. In the backcourt the brothers Kilafwa Palik and Alik Palik were able to bring their energy and some good passes to the Kibbys in the paint. While Alik is a very self-control player, Kilafwa needs to work on his shot selection (23.0%FG).
The only valuable player on the bench was Harry Elley who split the playing time with Skilling at the small-forward position, Elley is a good offensive player who brings a much needed spark from the bench. The other bench players were only playing some short minutes, they were unable to improve their team but at least they were able to give some minutes to rest for the starting-five players. Andy Kang was the most consistent and important of them as a back-up for Freddy Kibby, Yoshiro Alokoa played on the wings while Robson Abraham played as a guard. The last three players, Jacobson Kibby, Livingston Alokoa and Primo Palik, didn't see much of the court during the week.
Kosrae has six valuable players, a solid inside duo with Terrence and Freddy Kibby but this is not enough to claim a medal in the Microgames. As the other micronesian states like Yap, Pohnpei and Chuuk, Kosrae would be unable to compete under its own flag in the major FIBA Oceania tournaments and all these states should continue to play under the united Federated States of Micronesia banner.
Stats:
Freddy Kibby (C) 19.8pts 45.8%FG 11.2rbs 1.8ast 35min 5gp
Terrence Kibby (F) 12.4pts 39.4%FG 7.6rbs 2.2ast 36min 5gp
Kilafwa Palik (G) 11.6pts 23.0%FG 3.8rbs 3.6ast 34min 5gp
Ari Skilling (F) 8.4pts 47.2%FG 4.0rbs 1.8ast 24min 5gp
Alik Palik (G) 8.2pts 39.5%FG 3.4rbs 2.6ast 32min 5gp
Harry Elley (F) 6.6pts 50.0%FG 3.4rbs 1.0ast 15min 5gp
And
