Samoa Too strong For American Samoa at F.I.B.A Polynesian Basketball Cup
Samoa is continuing its strong form at the FIBA Polynesian Basketball Cup.
Photo: Supplied
Samoa is continuing its strong form at the FIBA Polynesian Basketball Cup recording its second win at the tournament against neighbors American SamoSamoa's Basketball Team were too much to handle for the team from American Samoa, starting strongly in the beginning of the match and maintaining a 36-point margin to win 106-70.
Samoa Basketball's Shareef Ahmen Saipaia was unstoppable with 34 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals, with Jeff Taupau and Egon Keil also rising to the occasion. In his debut, Egon Keil joined his cousin Devante, to represent Samoa at the FIBA Polynesian Cup 2022.
“It feels great to debut alongside my cousin, coming from the same family and representing our country, that’s what matters the most, making our families proud,” Keil said. “Today as a team we were able to run the floor today and put together a solid effort, it was a rough game, but we were able to keep the pace going and take out the win.
Regarding his debut, Keil conveyed that he was nervous at first but after the first game yesterday, it settled the nerves. "I have a pretty good team where everyone is really encouraging, so that’s always a good thing to have. I was just going for the cuts and looking for open spaces and looking for any opportunity that I could get. I have great point-guards in Shareef and Derhyse who are always looking to make the pass which is good.”
Samoa will face the other undefeated team in this year's tournament,Tonga on Friday at 12:00pm.