Taking it a game at a time

Shortly after Tinian bagged the 2006 Inter-Government Basketball League championship, the team credited their successful run to their mentality of taking it one game at a time.

“We made some adjustments and just set two goals,” said finals most valuable player John Santos. “First, we said we just wanted to make the playoffs because this is a tough league. Teams in here are strong and will be hard to beat. Second, we focused on taking it a game at a time.”

After having a rough start, Tinian was able to get the services of Santos, who was serving in Iraq as part of Echo Company.

With Santos on board, the team went on an impressive winning streak that did not end to help the team hoist the championship trophy.

“We made adjustments and each time we won, it definitely helped with confidence,” Santos said. “We started to gel and for every team, we tried to scout their weakness and just try to get out early so we won’t have to play catch up.”

Tinian didn’t have to play catch-up in many of their regular season games and finished on top of the team standings with an 11-2 win-loss card. The team was tied with Department of Labor, but had the edge after beating Labor in the regular season.

The playoffs was a different story, though, as Tinian was tested at their first bout against 2005 champion No Zone in the semifinals.

The Tinian cagers entered the final period down by double digits and leaned on their outside shooting to claw back into contention and win, 95-87.

The boys from Tinian found themselves in a similar bind during Game 1 of the championship series against the Department of Public Safety Enforcers, but again came through with their long-distance shooting to force overtime.

“We took a lot of 3-pointers to try to narrow down the deficit,” Santos said. “We took the risk, but the shots were falling so we continued to take those shots. It was a tough game and the government league is getting tougher every year.

“We never gave up, never quit. We knew we can shoot the ball and believed that we can come back,” Santos added.

The team lost the game, but filed a protest and after BANMI ruled that the two teams will play the final 3:30 of overtime before the Game 2 start on Wednesday, Tinian was able to take home the title via forfeit.

The team also extended its appreciation to its fans and supporters.

“They’re very important,” Santos said. “We’re always playing away from home, so it feels good to have them here for us. We feed to off their energy, especially when we’re far behind.”