KagES swim to co-ed hoops title

Kagman Elementary School Blue Marlins swam to the 2023-2024 IT&E Interscholastic Co-ed Elementary School Basketball League title after they beat Tinian Elementary School Colts in a double-elimination championship last Saturday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

Before the championship series, the Blue Marlins were undefeated with five wins. They were dealt their first loss of the season in the first game of the finals after the Colts won 24-22, and forced a second game.

It was full steam ahead for both teams as everything hung in the balance in the winner-take-all final championship game, but the Blue Marlins got the better of the Colts and won, 20-16.

Throughout the game, however, neither team was far behind the other and a seesawing of the lead ensued—with the Colts in the lead in the first quarter, then the Blue Marlins in the second.

The last half saw an even more aggressive game defensively with man-to-man defenses put up against both teams’ leading scorers.

The Colts lost steam in the final quarter, while the Bue Marlins chugged strongly ahead and continued to bank their shots. Tinian’s leading scorer Francisco Moses tried his best to even the game up once more, but Kagman’s own top shooter Benaiah Murphy ensured that it was elusive.

Murphy went on to score 18 of the Blue Marlins’ total points, while Conan Iakopo added 2, and Astrid Masiwemai scored a free throw.

Moses put up 12 markers, Manuel Cruz Jr. scored 2, and Audreanna Barcinas shot a free throw.

Third place was Koblerville Elementary School who lost to Tinian earlier in the morning.

Blue Marlins head coach Constancio Miday said after the awards ceremony that their team’s championship was an “impressive win.”

“We’ve worked for this for three years because it’s always Koblerville [Elementary School] that is dominating the sport. But now, it’s our time. Our hard work with my students resulted in the championship and I feel good because they’re happy,” said the KagES basketball coach of four years. “I made sure that we played hard, and rain or shine we practiced. Now, we have the trophy. It’s for them,” he said.

He added, “Our schools need not only academics. We need to reinforce the physical wellness of the kids. When the kids are physically fit, academics will follow.”

He said there are quite a few students in the team who are promoting to middle school next school year and the team would have to be rebuilt again for the next season.

Miday, a teacher of almost nine years, then said, “thank you to those teams who participated in this league and to the PSS Athletics Program.”

The IT&E Interscholastic Co-ed Elementary School Basketball League 2023-2024 season was organized by the Public School System Athletic Program with help from the Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation.

KagES 20 – Murphy 18, Iakopo 2, Masiwemai 1.

TES 16 – F. Moses 12, Cruz Jr. 2, Barcinas 1.

Scoring by quarters: 4-5, 8-7, 13-11, 20-16.