CNMI men go down vs. Sri Lanka, Indonesia; women routed by India | Sports

The CNMI men completed their qualifying round matches with losses to Sri Lanka and Indonesia, while the women scored only one point in their debut against India in the 3×3 FIBA ​​Asia Cup in Singapore.

A few hours after losing to South Korea in the opener last Wednesday, Douglas “Spyder” Schmidt, Coby Santos, Preston Basa, and Jack Lizama suited up against Sri Lanka and fared much better in a 13-21 loss. Schmidt led the CNMI’s cause anew with 5 points, while Santos and Lizama added 4 points apiece.

In yesterday’s game against Southeast Asian basketball powerhouse Indonesia, the CNMI lost 16-10 as defense ruled the matchup. Santos poured in a personal tourney-high 7 points, while Lizama added 2 markers. Schmidt was limited to a point. NMI actually carried leads of 7-5 and 8-6 before fading away in the last five minutes of the contest.

The CNMI women’s team of Kaia Travilla, Jan Travilla, Mikki Kautz, and Madeleine Alegre, meanwhile, debuted with a 21-1 shellacking courtesy of India late Wednesday night. The South Asian giant scored the first 11 points of the contest before Alegre put the CNMI’s first and only point on the scoreboard at the 5:26 mark of the ballgame.

The CNMI women took on Hong Kong and Indonesia in back-to-back games at 9:20pm and 10:35pm, last night to close out their preliminary assignments.

Team manager Lia Rangamar said the CNMI men’s and women’s teams struggled in their first ever 3×3 basketball competition in Asia was sort of expected.

“We had tough opening games. We’re playing at the highest level of competition that our players have ever seen, but we need to find our composure early on and embrace the physicality of the game. There is no luxury of time in 3×3.”

After the 1-point outing against India, the Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation director and 3X3 administrator believe that the CNMI women will play better in their next two games.

“You saw that adjustment with the boys heading into their second game and I’m confident our girls will follow suit.”

As for the men, Rangamar said she liked their fight-back against South Korea after they were buried by an avalanche of points early on.

“I thought they did great. The nerves at the beginning of the game were expected. They’re playing at the highest level of their basketball careers plus the opening game of the tournament,” she said.