Australia and Samoa Victorious on Opening Day

PORT MORESBY (Papua New Guinea) – Day one of the FIBA Under 17 Oceania Championship tipped off at Sir John Guise Stadium with Samoa and Papua New Guinea treating the home crowd to a spirited match.

While the local crowd got behind the men from Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Samoa support crew were equally as impressive helping their team to a comfortable victory, 126 to 66.

Elika Tutagalevao finished the game with a double-double and shot at close to 70 percent with Eneasi Piuleini and Captain Chong Nee going to work at the rim, notching up plus 20 points each.

“It was a good match, our boys played well, and big props to the PNG team for getting us a hard-fought battle,” Tutagalevao said.

“We will need to fix up some areas and work on our defence going into other matches, but I think we will go alright.”

From PNG, point guard, Allan Millard, showed the home crowd what he was capable of at both ends of the court, finishing with 19 points.

In the first game of the Championship, the men from Australia took care of business against Guam with Roman Siulepa and Jack Whitbourn racking up double-doubles by half time.  Siulepa finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Goc Malual was impressive with a game high of 22 points.

“It was a good game to blow the cobwebs out, and to see how we move as a group,” Siulepa said.  “For a lot of us it’s our first time playing together, so it was good to show what we can do as a team, which is a step in the right direction for us as a team at this tournament.”

Siulepa relished in the humid conditions at Sir John Guise Arena and is looking forward to ‘taking care of business’ throughout the week.

“It feels good to perform, but I credit it all to my teammates who get me the ball, I’m just on clean up duty getting the boards, and that’s part of my role and I take pride in that. " 

“I love the weather here, my background is Samoan so I love it, a few of the other boys not so much, but I’m loving it, especially the humidity, it’s great for conditioning and will be beneficial for us late in the week.”

Guam Captain, Noah Tenorio ,and Lynnwood Baker worked hard all game to both finish with nine points as Australia cruised to their first win of the tournament, 143 to 24.

The tournament continues tomorrow with Australia taking on Samoa and Papua New Guinea up against New Zealand.

About the 2023 FIBA U17 Oceania Championship

The 2023 FIBA U17 Oceania Championship will be hosted by the Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby at Sir John Guise Stadium from October 2 to 6.  The Championships serve as the first step in the qualification process to the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup.  The top two placed teams at the 2023 FIBA U17 Oceania Championships qualify to the 2024 FIBA U18 Asian Championships.