Previous Story
Tinian captures MIBT crown
|
Posted on Apr 06 2000
Fresh off a one-point overtime victory over defending champion Team Palau, Tinian marched to the championship game with determination and confidence to beat Guam, the only undefeated team in the tournament, 85-81.
In the championship game, in front of a capacity crowd at the Ada Gymnasium, Guam jumped out to an 8-0 lead before Tinian could call its first time out 1:27 into the game.
After a timeout, Tinian went into their inside game slowly taking advantage of Guam’s weak interior defense to eventually take a narrow 45-41 lead into the half, largely due to Karl Nabors and Jesse Manibusan’s strong inside presence. Both finished the half with 14 points.
Three minutes into the second half, Guam regained it at 53-51 on a fastbreak lay-up by Deryl Pangelinan. The lead then see-sawed back and forth before Tinian started to pull away with 8:43 left.
With victory insight, Tinian became conservative and started to melt the clock.
Guam then went to a fullcourt press, which startled the Tinian squad and got the fans up on their feet as Guam was quickly back in the game on back to back three pointers by Deryl Pangelinan to close within two-78-76.
In the next possession, Manibusan grabbed a rebound for a put back to put Tinian up by four, 80-76. Guam quickly inbounded the ball to Pangelinan who drove the length of the court through traffic for a one-handed scoop lay-up to pull Guam within two, 78-76.
With the momentum on Guam’s favor, the shot of the game came from 16-year-old Ameko Pato, who, with 32 seconds left, seemed to force up a running jumper from about 15 feet with no teammates around to take a comfortable lead, but most importantly seemed to take Guam’s last gasp of air as the ball went through the net. Guam was then forced to foul, and Pato and Anthony Borja’s free throws sealed the victory for Tinian.
Tinian was led MIBT MVP Karl “Malone” Nabors with 23 points, 18 boards, two blocked shots, and three assists, while Jesse “Vinsanity” Manibusan had 22 points, nine boards, and two assists.
Deryl Pangelinan had 30 points, two assists and two steals in the losing effort.
