ACS blasts GCA, 50-27

Agape Christian School Torchbearers wiped the floor clean of Grace Christian Academy Eagles, 50-27, for their first win of the season in the varsity bout of the 2023-2024 IT&E Interscholastic Boys High School Basketball League last Friday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The Torchbearers rebounded from a blowout season opening loss to defending champs Marianas High School and took it out on GCA with a blowout win of their own.

Daniel Song, Jacob Wang, and Caleb Cui were the untouchable trio during the game as they held steady in their game play and shots. The Eagles faced a formidable opponent despite giving full reign to their main shooter Eric Lai, who tried to bring them at least within half of ACS.

A whirlwind of points was quickly made by ACS and by the end of the first half, outscored GCA, 30-14. It didn’t seem like they were going to slow down any time soon and after half time, continued a barrage of attacks at the basket.

GCA could barely squeeze in through a tight-knit ACS defense as Lai carried his team by being as open as possible. Despite his 16 markers—the most in his team—ACS still got the better of them as Song, Wang, and Cui scored a collective 38 points.

In other results, Marianas High School snagged their second win of the season against Saipan Southern High School, 53-43; and Kagman High School claimed their second win as well against Mount Carmel School, 47-27.

Results of the junior varsity matches from Monday will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.

The junior varsity games are played at the Marianas High School Gymnasium, while the varsity games are played at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The varsity championship tournament is set from March 7 to 9.

ACS 50 – Song 14, Wang 12, Cui 12, Ma 6, Zhang 2, Shen 2, Yang 2.

GCA 27 – Lai 16, Yumul 4, J. Taitano 4, Yang 3.

Scoring by halves: 30-14, 50-27.