Hopwood Middle School players pose with the boys middle school division championship trophy of the IT&E Interscholastic Basketball League SY23-24 at the Marianas High School gym on Saturday.
HMS’ Jequinn Lizama takes the contested shot during the boys middle school division championship of the IT&E Interscholastic Basketball League SY23-24 at the Marianas High School gym on Saturday.
HOPWOOD Middle School edged Francisco M. Sablan Middle School 24-22 to bag the boys middle school division championship of the IT&E Interscholastic Basketball League SY23-24 at the Marianas High School gym on Saturday.
FMS were aiming for their fourth consecutive title, but it was not mean to be.
HMS relied on each other with Jequinn Lizama orchestrating the offensive plays as the point guard. Teammates Evan Cabrera and Leon Galarse joined the fray with a bucket each to give HMS the lead in the first half, 7-5.
Despite their strong start, HMS started to lose momentum in the second half as FMS’ Jainis Pangilinan and Dezmond Camacho took matters into their own hands with rough inside attacks to draw the foul and chip their way back to tie the game, 13-13, and send it into overtime.
Both teams went head-to-head in the next five minutes of the extra period with HMS as the aggressor. But with every shot that Lizama and Galarse made, Camacho and Leon Duenas had an answer on the other end.
Lizama sank five crucial free throw shots while FMS’ Pangilinan kept his team’s hope alive with a critical triple. He also had the chance to tie the game in a fastbreak play, but he failed to convert the game-tying bucket, which sealed the deal for HMS, 24-22.
“We lost to FMS in the regular season, and I had to reboot the guys. How they came back shows character,” said their coach, Eric Palacios.
He added that the team practiced every day of the week. “I told the boys that they have to work hard —that the work that they put in will show, and that was what brought us the championship.”
