HMS teams start strong in boys caging

Hopwood Middle School Hilitais varsity and junior varsity teams started off the IT&E Interscholastic Boys Middle School Basketball League 2024-2025 season strong with a win each last Friday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

Their young varsity team are the defending champions and they pulled through with a win over Cha Cha Ocean View Middle School Lancherus, 36-12, to start off their campaign this season.

After some back and forth, the Hilitais drew first blood from a fastbreak play by Steven Tudela. The Lancherus replied with consecutive shots by Payton Pangelinan they stagnated there as Hilitais’ defense tightened.

HMS’ Zuriel Abejo and Josh Lizama then put them up, 9-4, with a few minutes left in the first half. Their lead skyrocketed from there as the Lancherus stagnated, 4-15, before a time out. Then, HMS enjoyed a 12-point cushion, 21-9, at the end of the first half, thanks to their quick plays and more accurate takes at the basket.

The Lancherus were not as quick on their feet as the Hilitais got the better of them, and they were quickly silenced in the last half. The Lancherus went on to score just three more points off of visits to the free throw line, while the Hilitais went to town with Abejo and Johnli Taguiam taking the lead.

Tagiuam led with 9 points while Abejo scored 6. Pangelinan scored the most at 5 for COVMS.

For the junior varsity team that played earlier, they won over COVMS’ junior varsity team, 25-10.

It was a close game at the end of the first half, 5-2 in favor of the Hilitais, but they sprang into action in the last half and won by a margin of 15 points.

Eric Palacios, HMS varsity head coach, said after their game that this season they’re defending their title with a much younger team than their championship team last year. Even with that, on their first win of the season, he said, “We just want to show that we can still defend our title. We have a lot of young players this time around as compared to the other teams, but I think we can compete.”

On how confident they are in defending their title, he said, “There’s a lot of work to do, but I really like our chances… we’re going to run hard, we’re going to do a lot of cardio—just like last year’s team. Last year’s team was older and this year, FMS is more talented, but my boys are going to work harder.”

In other games that day, Francisco M. Sablan Middle School JV defeated Mount Carmel School JV, 44-13;FMS drowned Saipan Community School Guardians, 48-5; MCS took down Dandan Middle School, 30-9, and Tanapag Middle School overpowered Grace Christian Academy, 38-6.

Games are played every Wednesday and Friday at the MHS Gym with the first game at 4:45pm and the last game at 6:15pm. The championship tourney is slated for Oct. 17-19.

HMS 36 – Taguiam 9, Abejo 6, Galarse 5, Tagabuel 4, Maceda 4, Tudela 2, Louis 2, Lizama 2, Agulto 2.

COVMS 12 – Pangelinan 5, Villagomez 3, Martin 2, Jones 1, Murphy 1.

Scoring by halves: 21-9, 36-12.