By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

MARIANAS Baptist Academy pulled off a 52-51 win over Grace Christian Academy to claim the first finals berth in the boys’ division of the Coalition of Private Schools middle school basketball tournament yesterday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gym.
Alex Park drilled a free throw and Chan Woo Lee made big defensive stops in the closing seconds of the game to move MBA into the finals and dethrone the Eagles.
GCA won over Mt. Carmel School in last year’s middle school caging.
The Storms were comfortably ahead by 10 points, 51-41, with four minutes left in the game when Romulo Sarmiento led GCA’s comeback.
Sarmiento’s fastbreak layup off a steal from Norman Chan tied the game at 51-all, with 1:40 remaining on the clock.
MBA and GCA exchanged misses and errors in the ensuing plays forcing Stormz coach Rick Alegre to sue for time.
After a timeout, MBA lost the ball with Sarmiento stealing it after the inbound play. But Lee intercepted Sarmiento’s pass, threw the ball to Park, who drove to the basket and drew a foul.
Park missed his first charity but made the second to give MBA a 52-51 lead, with 34 seconds left in the game.
The Stormz almost lost the game when Paul Samson, hoping to steal the ball from GCA’s Genesis Mamaril after an inbound pass, committed a flagrant foul forcing the latter to hit the floor hard.
Samson was ejected in the last 19 seconds of the game and Mamaril was given two free throws.
Mamaril missed the first, as the ball hit the back iron of the rim. He also muffed the second.
The Eagles had another chance to steal the win, as the flagrant foul called against MBA gave them possession regardless of how Mamaril fared on the 15-foot line, but missed anew.
The Eagles’s Lester Vertudez inbounded from the right sideline, but his pass to Mamaril was intercepted by Lee.
Mamaril fouled Lee hoping to stop the clock and send MBA to the free throw line. But with three seconds left and the GCA Eagles not yet in the penalty situation having only four fouls, the Stormz wasted the time.
MBA will face in the finals tomorrow the winner of the Saipan Community School-Mt. Carmel School semis tiff, which was played yesterday, but the results were unavailable at press time.
In the girl’s division, Saipan International School held Saipan Community School scoreless in the fourth quarter to post a 28-17 victory and claim the second finals berth.
The Lady Geckos will face the GCA Lady Eagles in the finals tomorrow.
SIS was also scoreless in the first quarter, but survived its lackluster production in the opening period, as it worked its way back into the game in the last three quarters playing good defense.
The Tsunamis were still in the driver’s seat at the end of the third period, 17-16, when they failed to nail a single basket in the fourth quarter against SIS’s team defense.
The Lady Geckos had their hands up all the time, making it hard for the smaller SCS players to get a good look at the basket.
The Geckos also did a good job trapping SCS players on the sidelines forcing numerous errors.
Zoe Jewell took care of business on offense as she fired 15 points. She had eight points in the fourth quarter scoring on layups and undergoal stabs.
“The instructions after the third quarter were to hustle for the ball, play good defense and bring the ball inside so we would have opportunities for easy baskets,” said SIS coach Becca Newman.
“Against GCA, we hope to have the same intensity on defense,” added Newman, whose team lost to GCA twice in the regular season.
Scores:
Girls:
SIS 28—Jewell 15, S. Kim 6, Majors 5, Brostrom 2.
SCS 17—Fernandez 13, Eun 4.
Quarterscores: 0-2, 8-11, 16-17, 28-17
Boys:
MBA 52—Chan 18, Samson 12, Coelho 9, Lee 6, Blair 6.
GCA 51—Sarmiento 31, Leung 6, Salas 6, Dela Cruz 4, Vertudez 2, Dimaano 2.
Quarterscores: 15-12, 32-27, 47-35, 52-51