HMS completes upset in OT for hoops title

Hopwood Middle School Hilitais finally crowned themselves champion after they fought to the death in overtime against archrival Francisco M. Sablan Middle School Napu Riders, 24-22, in the IT&E Interscholastic Boys Middle School Basketball League 2023-2024 championships at the Marianas High School Gymnasium last Saturday.

The Hilitais, led by 8th grader Jequinn Lizama, outburned the Napu Riders’ fire as they had just one thing in mind: win the championship after falling short the last couple of seasons and dedicate it to their classmate and teammate, Bradley Delos Santos, who was swept out to sea last April.

The pressure was on in OT as Lizama—with FMS trying to save time to try and take the lead—was fouled multiple times. He kept his composure and didn’t let nerves—or the fate of his school—hang heavy on his shoulders as he made every single free throw to put them up, 24-19, with just a few seconds left.

FMS’ Jairus Pangilinan resuscitated his team one last time with a big 3-pointer to make it 22-24, but time ran out as an attempt to tie it up with a layup and force another OT was foiled—which handed the Hilitais the championship.

When it came down to it in the last half, HMS and FMS were tied, 10-10, with a little over two minutes left. It was a low-scoring game because both defenses were tight and put so much pressure on the other’s offense.

Regulation ended 13-13 but prior to that HMS’ 2-point lead seemed safe before free throws by FMS’ Pangilinan and Dezmond Camacho forced the extension.

The Hilitais gave themselves the upper hand when they battled their way to the winner’s bracket and came out undefeated in the championship tournament and faced two-time defending champion Napu Riders.

The Napu Riders had to claw their way out of the loser’s bracket and only had a 15-minute break before facing off against the Hilitais in the championship. FMS defeated Dandan Middle School in the bronze medal round, 30-18.

HMS head coach Eric Palacios said they’re dedicating their win to Delos Santos.

“The beginning of the year, a lot of the team’s cheers were dedicated to him. So, this one is for him, his family, and our players and their family.”

On how he felt winning the championship, “I feel ecstatic, tired, and I told the boys you might not like me because we’re going to run hard all the time and practice every day. The boys practiced almost every day except for Friday and I put it all on them. I also want to thank my family because I come home late and concentrate on the boys. It’s the work you put in—it will show—and it did with this championship. Thank God also for giving us this championship.”

The strategy in the finals, he said, was to just play their game. He knows that they have bigger, taller, and older players so they needed to take advantage of that.

“Try to kill time if we take the lead and also at the same time, try to drive it in. If we were losing, we needed to drive in and stop the clock—which FMS was doing also,” he said.

As for the season, Palacios said “in the regular season, we weren’t undefeated. I think we were ranked No. 3. We lost a tough one to FMS in the regular season and a lot of the boys felt really bad. But I had to regroup them and tell them I love them. I said, ‘it’s not how we fall. It shows character on how we come back from way down there.’ And I told them I felt that this is their year. Whoever makes the least mistakes will take the championship.”

Three of their starting five are leaving for high school at the end of the school year—Lizama, Evan Cabrera, and Ioane Camacho—and Palacios said they have two players to hopefully carry over next year.

He then said, “I want to thank their parents for allowing the kids to practice almost every day. I want to thank the basketball federation, James [Lee], Marlene [Lumabi], our school’s admin, and you guys [Saipan Tribune and Marianas Variety].”

Lizama, who is Delos Santos’ cousin, also said he dedicated their win to him. When asked how he felt during the OT when he had to make sure he made the free throws every time he was fouled, he said that it felt good making them even though the pressure was high. He said FMS was a good team and tough to play against and said, “it feels good to get my first championship and it was very fun playing throughout the season.”

HMS 24 – Lizama 13, Cabrera 5, Galarse 4, Camacho 2.

FMS 22 – Duenas 6, Pangilinan 6, D. Camacho 5, Saralu 2, Dilao 2, Rogolifoi 1.

Scoring by halves: 7-15, 13-13, 24-22 (OT).