By Jay Leon Guerrero

Team Guam continued to dominate in the Guam Invitational Basketball Tournament (GIBT) defeating the University of the East (Philippines) 74-68 to claim the tournament championship in front of a packed crowd at the UOG Calvo Field House Saturday evening.

For the first time, Guam had the size advantage and a pair of big guys helped Team Guam win the championship.

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Former FD Friar Mekeli Wesley and former Guam High Panther Curtis Washington took over the game while on the court to guide Guam to victory.

Washington led Guam in scoring with 17 points but it was his defensive presence that helped keep the University of the East’s (UE) offense at bay. Wesley played just 13 minutes for Team Guam, but managed to score 12 points and grab six rebounds. Wesley, Washington’s relief, got the local fans off their feet after he netted two three-pointers in the final period to give Guam a 10-point lead before heading back to the bench.

“I was upset with myself in the first half because I missed a couple of easy shots that I should have made. I wanted to give the team a boast in the second half and came out with more intensity,” said Wesley.

UE survived a wild overtime thriller the night previous against National University (Philippines) in the semifinals but their defensive intensity was still high. In their first matchup against the Guam National Team, UE showed full court pressure for the entire game which forced Guam into 27 turnovers. Guam head coach EJ Calvo prepared his team for the pressure and they committed just 15 turnovers for the game.

“I knew if we had 15 turnovers or less we had a good shot at winning this game. The last game against them we committed 27 turnovers and that is totally unacceptable. Despite the turnovers, we played great defense and we were closing out well,” said Calvo.
The UE bench stepped up big again with Alvin Pasao leading the charge with 15 points and eight rebounds, Ronnie de Leon chipped in 10 points for UE.

FIRST HALF

Guam enjoyed an early six point advantage with Ollie Bradley and Joe Blas heating up in the opening quarter.

UE backup point guard Edgar Charcos razzle and dazzled the crowd with his nifty moves in the paint for a pair of acrobatic baskets to give his team their first lead going ahead 21-19.

From that point on there were six lead changes as both teams traded punches going into the second half.

GUAM’S BIG THIRD QUARTER

Team Guam surged ahead in the third period despite starting point guard Willie Stinnett heading to the bench early with foul trouble. Bradley netted a three-pointer and Washington followed up with another alley oop dunk courtesy of an assist from Blas to go and head 57-50.

Wesley later entertained the crowd with outside shot.

Wesley started the fourth quarter and made his second three-pointer of the game to go ahead 62-54. Guam’s Kyle Husslein followed up with a three-pointer of his own as the shot clock expired to give Guam a 65-54 lead, their largest of the game.

UE’s de Leon and Mark Olayan tried to start a rally with less than five minutes left in regulation but a dagger three-pointer from Stinnett ended their momentum as Guam cruised to a 76-68 victory.

In the consolation game, National University defeated the UOG Tritons 95-38.