POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
The championship game was not that easy for the all-mighty Guam but the team managed to secure a 5-point victory over Palau to get another Gold medal in the Microgames. In the other games of this final day, the Marshall Islands took the Gold over Kosrae and Kelvin Sam made the best individual performance of the tournament with 44pts in a classification game over Yap!
Gold medal game:
Guam - Palau: 77-72
Guam continues its reign on the Micronesian region with another Gold medal in the Microgames. But this year Palau forced the guameses to earn it the hard way, the game was close until the last minutes but thanks to a deeper bench, Guam managed to dominate a tired Palau team. Yutaka Gibbons was the game's leading scorer with 22pts 7/19FG while his teamate Sunshine Soalablai added 19pts 6/18FG. For Guam, Dennis Camacho recorded a double-double with 16pts 4/17FG 17rbs and Joseph Blas netted 14pts 4/11FG.
Bronze medal game:
Marshall Islands - Kosrae: 85-75
A game for the pride. Kosrae was the last remaining team of the 4 micronesians states but they were unable to defeat a strong Marshall Islands side. The RMI provided a great offensive game, a lot of outside shots and a good defense. One year after playing in the South Pacific Mini-Games, the Marshalleses are rewarded with a Bronze medal at the Micronesian level. The players stats were unavailable when I wrote this post.
5th place:
CNMI - Chuuk: 86-75
The host nation was fustrated to miss the semifinals and tried hard to secure the 5th place of the tournament, they reached the half-time break on a 45-29 lead and shot for 51.5%FG during the entire game. Mark Wallace led his team with 19pts 7/11FG, Fred Pelisamen added 14pts and Mel Manibusan recorded 13pts 10rbs. Ravin Narruhn posted 23pts 9/17FG 10rbs for Chuuk, Keitani Graham netted 22pts and Jon Akapito added 12pts.
7th place:
Pohnpei - Yap: 83-77
Yap was leading 65-54 after three period but Pohnpei came from behind to avoid the last rank in this tournament. Pohnpei won this game because of one man: Kelvin Sam who recorded a tournament-high 44pts 19/38FG! His teamate Cassidy Shoniber added 11pts. Morri Money top-scored for Yap with 27pts 8rbs while Eric Ruepong scored 18pts 7rbs.
Final Standings:
1- Guam
2- Palau
3- Marshall Isl
4- Kosrae
5- CNMI
6- Chuuk
7- Pohnpei8- Yap
