The Sonics took the Champion and Champion Pennants trophy home for the 15 and under Saipan Rotary Youth Basketball League. Second place was filled in by the Rollers A and third place was carted away by the Rollers B.
The Most Valuable Player award was given to the Sonics’ Bryl Alegre and the Most Valuable Player for the regular season was awarded to Saina’s James Manalo. The Sportsmanship Award was given out to the youngest players of the league which were the G-Stars. “We decided to give the Sportsmanship Award out to the babies of the League” he added while announcing the winners out.
The Ol Aces carted away the Championship trophy for 8 years in a row after defeating the Sonics by one point in the final seconds of the championship game held last Monday, 65-64. The Sonics were able to hand them two upsets during the seasonal competition but the Ol Aces came back with a spiteful revenge the final night.
The Sonics were then given second place but were still the Pennant Champions of the season. Sparks settled for third place after the Ol Aces knocked them off of the brackets during the play offs night. The Sparks then battled it out with the G-Stars earning them the last top spot of the league.
The Sportsmanship award was also given to the Sonics. Their coach, Coach Omar Ajoste was the Coach of the Year for both divisions.
The most Valuable Player Award was given to the Ol Aces’ Juan Maratita and the Most Valuable Player for the regular season scoring was rightfully awarded to the Sparks’ Ichitaro Faisao.
“We hope to make next year’s Rotary competition bigger and better. Our young players did a wonderful job and it was a great season. Stay tuned for next season’s Rotary [caging] next year.” said BANMI President Elias Rangamar upon opening the awards ceremony. “We would like to thank the Rotary Club of Saipan for helping us along with our other Sponsors.” he added.
