Rivalries highlight MISA finals

The road to claiming supremacy in the 2006 MISA High School Basketball League ends tonight as two teams will go home as champions.

Only four teams remain after a competitive regular season.

Having the honors of taking the court first will be defending champion Marianas High School Lady Dolphins and last year’s runner-up Saipan Southern High School Lady Rays, with their bout scheduled for 4pm.

Last year, the Lady Dolphins entered the finals as the No. 3 seed and stunned the No. 1 Lady Rays with a 51-39 victory as guard Werlly Quitugua earned her second most valuable player award with 21 points to lead the charge.

Quitugua and veterans Emy Oiterong and Marlene Agbanlog have come up big for the Lady Dolphins in the 2006 regular season and with solid support from the rest of the cast, led the team to a perfect 6-0 record and an automatic slot to the title game.

The Lady Dolphins faced Saipan Southern three times this year, winning on Feb. 17, 40-34; on Feb. 27, 48-43; and on March 13, 61-41.

Saipan Southern should not be taken lightly though despite the losses as the team performed when they needed to and upset Kagman High School in the playoffs last Wednesday to advance to the finals again. It was the first win of the season for the Lady Rays.

Meanwhile, the boys finals will also be a rematch of last year’s championship game as defending champion Mt. Carmel School Knights and the Manta Rays renew their rivalry.

The Knights were long shots to win the crown last year but came through by upsetting the Mantas, 115-110, handing the Mantas their only loss of the season.

Leading the way for the Knights was Dan Barcinas, who went off for 32 points that included two big free throws in the dying seconds that gave Mt. Carmel the title.

The Mantas are without last year’s leading scorer Rowel Aranda, who knocked in a whopping 43 points in the finals, but still look strong behind the leading guns of Jack Lizama, Bill Babauta, Preston Basa, and Jason Bahillo who have shared the scoring responsibilities.

Aside from Barcinas, also returning for the Kinghts are veterans Aitau Barcinas, Kovin Ogumoro, Jeff Deleon Guerrero, Steven Kim, and Robert Naraja.

The Mantas and Knights collided twice this season, with both games proving to be entertaining from beginning to end. The Knights won both match-ups, but by slim margins. On Feb. 17, Barcinas scored 33 points to lift the Knights to a down-the-wire 76-73 victory, and the all-around standout came through again on March 3, nailing a pull-up jumper with 1.5 seconds left in overtime to lift the Knights to a 99-97 victory.

The two squads clash again today beginning at 6pm.