POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
The Northern Marianas Islands was awardded to host the 2006 Microgames Basketball Tournament when Yap has been devasted by a hurricane last year. The small island made a wonderful job to be ready to host the event and the national team wanted to celebrate that with a medal. Unfortunatly, the CNMI missed the semifinals for a couple of points and only got then 5th place. Let's make a recap of the CNMI games in this tournament.
Pool phase:
CNMI - Chuuk: 106-72
In the opening game, CNMI was just too good for Chuuk. Thanks to the home-crowd, the Northern Marianas reached half-time on a 56-33 lead. Chuuk managed to cut down this lead to 16 points but CNMI won the last quarter 30-12 to seal its win. Fred Pelisamen posted 23pts 10/20FG 7rbs, Mel Manibusan added 15pts 7/11FG 10rbs and Dan Barcinas recorded 12pts 6/11FG 8ast and 6st.
CNMI - Kosrae: 54-62
The game that broke CNMI's run for a medal. The Northern Marianas was leading 45-44 after three quarter but a 9-18 final period caused the loss. If CNMI had won this one, they would have secured a spot in the semis. Mark Wallace scored 16pts 7/13FG 10rbs, John Sablan added 11pts 4/7FG and Fred Pelisamen netted 10pts 4/14FG.
CNMI - Palau: 67-65
The host nation needed a large win to reach the semifinals but Palau never let the game go out of reach. CNMI managed to win the game but the team is eliminated due to a bad point-average against Kosrae and Palau. Mark Wallace was the game's leading scorer with 21pts 5/11FG 10rbs, Fred Pelisamen added 20pts 6/13FG and Mel Manibusan chipped in with 10pts 3/8FG 10rbs.
Classification games:
CNMI - Yap: 95-77
Despite being eliminated from the medal race, the Northern Marianas wanted to end their tournament with a good note, they defeated Yap to qualify for the 5th place game. Mark Wallace scored 27pts 10/20FG 11rbs, Fred Pelisamen recorded 15pts 6/11FG and Jeremy Sablan posted 15pts 7/14FG 13rbs.
CNMI - Chuuk: 75-86
The Northern Marianas has to face again Chuuk in the 5th place game and again CNMI came out of the game as winner. They shot better (51.% to 28.7%FG) and took more rebounds (61-52). The Northern Marianas islanders should be very disapointed, they dominated these classification games and could have done something great in the real playoffs! Mark Wallace again top-scored with 19pts 7/11FG 6rbs, Fred Pelisamen netted 14pts 7/10FG and Mel Manibusan recorded 13pts 5/9FG 10rbs.
Players recap:
This team should have won a medal in this tournament, behind Guam and Palau the CNMI could have claim the Bronze medal but the team only reached the 5th place. Mark Wallace really was a standout player for the CNMI in this tournament, he's got the whole package. He could have been named tournament's MVP if his team managed to claim a medal. Fred Pelisamen was a valuable second option, he always made good games and was very reliable. Mel Manibusan, Jeremy Sablan and Oscar Ada were the strong men inside. Manibusan was the more prolific sco
