Wilbur Heine, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was a sponsor of the team, said Thursday the team would be given a heroes welcome at Majuro airport on their return Friday night, with the event scheduled to be broadcast live to the country on the government’s AM radio station.
The Marshall Islands made history in Pohnpei by becoming the first basketball team from this western Pacific nation basketball to win a gold medal in regional competition. “The best we ever did before was win a silver,” Robert Pinho, an assistant coach and former national team player, said from Pohnpei after the victory over Team Pohnpei.
In the championship game of the Micronesia Basketball Tournament, East Division, the Marshall Islands team defeated Pohnpei 91-67.
The team overcame adversity to win in Pohnpei. Two weeks before the tournament, a portion of the national gymnasium’s roof collapsed, forcing closure of the national team’s practice facility. This left the team no option except to schedule its final weeks of practice on outdoor concrete courts during one of the wettest rainy seasons on record. But that didn’t seem to matter to the final result.
Marshall Islands and Pohnpei had split their earlier games in the tournament, with Pohnpei winning the first meeting Monday 68-65, and the Marshall Islands rebounding for a 74-65 win on Tuesday, which propelled them to the championship game Thursday. Pohnpei beat Kosrae on Wednesday to play the Marshall Islands for gold.
Marshall Islands won the rubber match resoundingly. “They couldn’t run with us,” said Alber Alik, who with Pinho assisted Head Coach Paul Kattil with the unprecedented tournament result. All three are former national team players.
The key for the Marshall Islands was a devastating fast break. “We ran them,” said Kattil after the game. “Pohnpei couldn’t stop our boys from running the ball.”
The Marshall Islands held a 20-point lead mid-way through the game, but Pohnpei fought back in the third quarter to narrow the score. By the last 10 minutes of the game, however, the Marshall Islanders’ fast break gave them a commanding lead.
