POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
Papua New Guinea has the reservoir of talent to be a major contender in Oceania, unfortunatly the men team is unable to fullfill its potential. PNG stayed winless in New Zealand in the FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament with a roster who was short on talent.
Papua New Guinea would have been a lot better with players like Illiwa Baldwin (207-C-86), Paiwa Baldwin (200-C-86) or Charles Parapa (188-G-86) but the team who came in New Zealand wasn't prepared at all for a tournament of that level. With only three valuables players (Muri, Gali, Ghabiliha), PNG was the weakest team in Auckland and the papuans were unable to get a single win. Scouting a learning the game is one the major issues in Papua New Guinea and the federation has a lot of work to do to use the potential of the country at its best.
Pools:
Papua New Guinea - New Caledonia: 48-84
Everybody expected a more competitive PNG team in this team, maybe the papuans were not ready to play this game and the caledonian made them pay for that. Shadrach Ghabiliha was the only PNG player who scored in double-figures.
Stats: Shadrach Ghabiliha 16pts 8/22FG 9rbs, Tau Gali 8pts 3/7FG, Apia Muri 8pts 4/15FG 12rbs
Papua New Guinea - New Zealand: 43-137
The PNG was harmless against the best team in the pool and recorded a blasting 94-point loss. Apia Muri led the team in scoring but the defense of the papuan really was a major issue.
Stats: Apia Muri 16pts 6/15FG 7rbs, Tau Gali 8pts 4/7FG, Russell Stafford 6pts 3/9FG 7rbs
Papua New Guinea - Fiji: 65-85
The best game of the team in the pool phase however PNG was unable to defeat a solid Fijian team. Tau Gali was the team's leading scorer. With this loss, PNG got the last spot in the pool and a deadly quarterfinal to play against Australia.
Stats: Tau Gali 22pts 9/18FG, Apia Muri 15pts 6/23FG 8rbs, Joe Alex 9pts 4/7FG
Pool Standing:
1- New Zealand
2- Fiji
3- New Caledonia
4- Papua New Guinea
Quarterfinals:
Papua New Guinea - Australia: 25-126
PNG is lightyears away from being able to compete against Australia, even against australian players who were three years younger! PNG was dominated on both ends of the court and on every aspect of the game. Shadrach Ghabiliha was the only papuan able to score more than 2 baskets and the entire team shot for 9/61FG!
Shardrach Ghabiliha 6pts 3/11, Apia Muri 4pts 1/17FG, Michael Kramer 5pts 2/6FG
Classification:
Papua New Guinea - Fiji: 77-85
PNG made its best half-time of the tournament in the first half of the game, the papuans were leading 41-37 at the break, but Fiji has too much talent despite a nice PNG defense which held Fiji to 33.7%FG for the game.
Stats: Apia Muri 19pts 9/17FG 14rbs 4bs, Tau Gali 19pts 8/13FG 7rbs, Shadrach Ghabiliha 9pts 3/10FG
7th place game:
Papua New Guinea - American Samoa: 81-93
Amsam made the break in the second quarter (29-8) to avoid the last place in the tournament. PNG closed the event with a 6th loss in 6 games despite a 27-point effort from Apia Muri
Stats: Apia Muri 27pts 12/29FG 12rbs 7st, Shadrach Ghabiliha 16pts 8/22FG, Tau Gali 13pts 6/16FG
Final Standings:
1- New Zealand
2- Australia
3- New Caledonia
4- Tahiti
5- Guam
6- Fiji
7- American Samoa
8- Papua New Guinea
Players recap:
Three players made a good tournament in New Zealand was the rest of the squad was very disapointing. Apia Muri was the best inside force of the team, tall player he can run the floor pretty well but he needs to bulk up to resist in the paint. Tau Gali was the best outside scorer and the only valuable three-point shooter: 8/18 behind the line, 5/55 for the rest of<
