Coaches look back at championship run

Both the Saipan Southern High School Manta Rays and the Marianas High School Lady Dolphins have had respectable performances over the years in the MISA High School Basketball League, and both closed the 2006 season with a bang by claiming the championship of their respective divisions.

Shortly after their fans invaded the court of the MHS Gymnasium in celebration with the teams, their coaches commented on their 2006 campaign.

“This is very special because we went undefeated,” MHS coach John Raulerson said after the game. “We’re undefeated plus it’s back to back. I got my seniors leaving: Shorty [Agbanlog], Shaunna [Yang], Werlly [Quitugua], and Emy [Oiterong], and so its special for them.”

The Lady Dolphins defeated the Lady Rays, 47-32, last Wednesday for the title.

Raulerson expressed how pleased he is to witness the four cagers mature in their young careers.

“I got them when they first started and I’ve seen them mature and right now they’re seasoned veterans and I like to see them going out as winners like they just did,” he said.

When asked what was the Lady Dolphins’ key factor in winning another crown for the school, Raulseron did not hesitate in replying that his players’ all-around skills did them well.

“I would say the strength would be you couldn’t really guard one person,” he said. “We had a bunch of people on our team that could score and our defense was really good. The chemistry was good on and off the court.

As he has done in the past, Raulerson offered his players another opportunity to compete in a tournament on Guam.

“We’re trying to go to Guam right now and I told them the only thing standing in the way of us and Guam right now is Saipan Southern High School, and they said okay and they took care of business and that was it,” he said.

Manta Rays coach Joe Punzalan was also thrilled with his team’s 85-77 victory over the Mt. Carmel Knights.

“They have such a dynamic team,” Punzalan said of the Knights. “I’m new to this island and I didn’t know anything about them, but they have impressive players and all I wanted to do is contain their top scorer Dan Barcinas…he’s an unbelievable player. The boys did an outstanding job. They listened and this is the product right here. They played outstanding defense today and that’s the only reason why we won because Mt. Carmel is a force to reckon with and I am totally honored to even get the championship and play against that team.”

Punzalan said it was focus that got the team over the hill after dropping two regular season games against the Knights.

“This last one was definitely focus. All the games they got beat by were close and it crushed them and I told them to just hang in ‘you’re fine, you guys all improved in your basketball skills’ and just told them ‘you need to focus on anything that you do’ and that’s one thing that Saipan is missing is the focus…someone that can give the kids the focus and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to coach such a great group of kids,” he added.

While the players were on the court, another key factor that Punzalan pointed out was the support of the crowd.

“The crowd, the school is beautiful. I came from Guam and I never felt such as welcoming. The kids took me in and I love every single one of them. They support us through the thick and thin. They were there when we lost and they stuck by us the whole time and we just want to give back to them. One school one heart is what it is,” he said. “Without them it would’ve been very difficult to come out especially against such a high caliber team as Mt. Carmel.”

The Manta Rays were on the verge of defeat as Barcinas nailed a pull-up jumper with 24.2 seconds remaining in the game before senior Jack Lizama came through with a bucket with just 4.3 seconds left.

“I was like oh my goodness he’s going to do it again,” Punzalan said of Barcinas. “But I had faith in the boys. I saw the fire in their eyes especially Jack. I know he wanted to go out his senior year a champion and I told him ‘this is where champions step up and he actually did that so I wasn’t really worried about it, but I can’t take anything away from Mt. Carmel because Dan Barcinas is by far one of the best young men I’ve ever seen play basketball on the islands and he’s going to have a great career. I’m just glad that my boys had the focus and ended up winning the championship.”

Next up is defending the title without Lizama, guard Mike Eclevia, R.J. Ferrer, Jeff Bahillo, and Ferdinand Palacios.

“Now we got a program over there, so next year we’re going to definitely try,” he said.