POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
Guam and Palau will play for the Gold in the 2006 Microgames Tournament. Guam dominated Kosrae 98-75 while Palau defeated the Marshall Islands in the semifinals. In the classification games, the host nation CNMI will play for the fifth spot.
Semifinals:
Guam - Kosrae: 98-75
The guameses showed why they are the number one favourites, they started this game with a blowing 30-14 run in the opening quarter, they were leading 54-31 at half-time. That was a very pleasant game, both teams shot pretty well (50.6%FG for Guam, 46.7%FG for Kosrae). Mike Atoigue netted 14pts 7/11FG for Guam, Andrew Borja added 13pts 6/9FG and Jine Han and Sandy Fejeran both scored 12pts. Freddy Kibby top-scored for Kosrae with 19pts 8/12FG 7rbs, Alik Palik netted 13pts 6/11FG and Ari Skilling chipped in with 12pts 4/10FG. Guam is more than ever the favourite for the Gold medal.
Palau - Marshall Islands: 77-72
Palau made great starts in both halves: 27-18 in the first quarter and 22-13 in the third one so the Marshall Islands tried hard to come back all game long but the palauans managed to keep a 5-point lead at the final buzzer. Yutaka Gibbons led his side to the victory with 24pts 7/17FG and 9rbs, Sunshine Soalablai recorded 13pts 9rbs but only hit 3/15FG and Michael Williams handed 11pts and 4ast. On the losing side, Gabriel Lait scored a team-high 20pts 6/15FG but Robert Pinho made his first bad game of the tournament at the worst time with 7pts 3/14FG 7rbs only, Wayne Anjain was not better with 6pts 2/5FG and 10to!
Classification games:
CNMI - Yap: 95-77
The game was pretty close during three quarters but a 31-18 run in the last period made the break for the Northern Marianas. The host nation was lead by Mark Wallace (27pts 11rbs) and Jeremy Sablan (15pts 13rbs), on the other team Andrew Ruepong tried is best with 31pts 12/21FG 16rbs and 6st.
Pohnpei - Chuuk: 79-87
A very disapointing game for Pohnpei who was close to reach the semifinals a couple of days earlier but in this game Chuuk's Ravin Narruhn was unstoppable: 31pts 10/20FG and 16rbs! Cassidy Shoniber led Pohnpei with 21pts 8/18FG 7rbs and 8ast.
Finals schedule:
Gold medal:
Guam - Palau
Bronze medal:
Marshall Islands - Kosrae
5th place:
CNMI - Chuuk
7th place:
Pohnpei - Yap
