Basketball at the 2023 Pacific Games – Men's tournament

Basketball at the 2023 Pacific Games – Men's tournament
Tournament details
Host country Solomon Islands
CityHoniara
Dates17 – 25 November 2023
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)Friendship Hall (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Fiji (2nd title)
Runners-up Guam
Third place New Caledonia
Fourth place Samoa
Tournament statistics
Games played20
Top scorerPapua New Guinea Apia Muri
(21.6 points per game)
Official website
2023 Pacific Games
Main article: Basketball at the 2023 Pacific Games

The men's basketball tournament at the 2023 Pacific Games was the 17th edition of the event for men at the Pacific Games. It was held from 17 to 25 November 2023. All games were played at the Friendship Hall in Honiara, Solomon Islands.[1][2]

Fiji ended their 16-year title drought by upsetting the defending champions Guam in the championship match, 51-47, winning their only second Gold Medal in the Games' Men's Basketball tournament. Meanwhile, New Caledonia notches their fourth Bronze Medal overall after thrashing the defending Bronze Medallists Samoa in the Battle for Third Place, 97-61.[3][4]

As this tournament served as the official qualifiers of the Oceania region to the FIBA Asia Cup Pre-Qualifiers, both Finalists earned their slots to the 2029 FIBA Asia Cup qualification wherein they will be participating in the First Round, which will happen on 2026.

Format

The eight teams were split into two groups of four teams, and a single round-robin was held within each group. The first-placed teams of each group advanced straight into the semifinals with the second- and third-placed teams playing a two match qualifying finals before advancing. After the preliminary round, the teams were matched according to their results with the playoffs featuring only six teams (top three of each group). From there on a knockout system was used.

Schedule

The schedule of the tournament was as follows.[5]

G Group stage Q Qualifying finals C Classification ¼ Quarterfinals ½ Semifinals F Finals
Event↓/Date → 17th
Fri		 18th
Sat		 19th
Sun		 20th
Mon		 21st
Tue		 22nd
Wed		 23rd
Thu		 24th
Fri		 25th
Sat
Men G G G G G Q C ½ F

Qualified teams

Qualification method Date Berths Qualified team
Host Nation — — Solomon Islands Solomon Islands
2022 FIBA Micronesia Basketball Cup 8−11 June 2022 1 Guam Guam
2022 FIBA Melanesia Basketball Cup 26−29 October 2022 2 New Caledonia New Caledonia
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea
2022 FIBA Polynesia Basketball Cup 1−5 November 2022 2 French Polynesia Tahiti
Tonga Tonga
Wildcard 16 December 2022 2 Fiji Fiji
Samoa Samoa
Total 8

Group stage

Group A

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  Guam 3 3 0 271 179 +92 6 Advance to the semi-final round
2  Papua New Guinea 3 2 1 245 202 +43 5 Advance to the quarter-final round
3  Samoa 3 1 2 177 224 −47 4
4  Solomon Islands (H) 3 0 3 136 224 −88 3 Advance to the classification round
Source: FIBA Oceania
Rules for classification: a. points; b. win–loss record; c. goal average; d. head-to-head records; e. quotient system
(H) Hosts
17 November 2023
17:00
Solomon Islands  49–56  Samoa
Scoring by quarter: 11–12, 11–19, 13–2, 14–23
Pts: Otasui 14
Rebs: Maelasi 12
Asts: Tango 3		 Pts: Chong Nee 16
Rebs: D. Keil 13
Asts: V. Keil, Nickel 2
18 November 2023
18:00
Papua New Guinea  81–34  Solomon Islands
Scoring by quarter: 18–8, 23–4, 22–8, 18–14
Pts: A. Muri 21
Rebs: H. Elavo 8
Asts: P. Muri 4		 Pts: A. Basia 8
Rebs: Masaea 7
Asts: Maelasi 2
Friendship Hall, Honiara
Referees: Calia Hanks (AUS), Timoci Matai Sailada (FIJ), Muaimalae Levale (SAM)
18 November 2023
20:15
Samoa  49–88  Guam
Scoring by quarter: 7–22, 19–28, 12–19, 11–19
Pts: Thompson 9
Rebs: Thompson 6
Asts: 3 players 2		 Pts: Johnson 20
Rebs: Johnson 11
Asts: 3 players 3
Friendship Hall, Honiara
Referees: Samuel Pan (NZL), Roman Michel, Heimiti Mairau
19 November 2023
09:00
Guam  96–77  Papua New Guinea
Scoring by quarter: 23–20, 33–20, 22–17, 18–20
Pts: Simon 30
Rebs: Simon 11
Asts: Johnson 4		 Pts: A. Muri 21
Rebs: Tetemo 9
Asts: Tetemo 4
21 November 2023
09:00
Papua New Guinea  87–72  Samoa
Scoring by quarter: 18–18, 19–19, 28–9, 22–26
Pts: M. Elavo, C. Muri 21
Rebs: H. Elavo 9
Asts: C. Muri 8		 Pts: Nickel 16
Rebs: Tutagalevao 11
Asts: D. Keil 6
21 November 2023
20:15
Guam  87–53  Solomon Islands
Scoring by quarter: 16–7, 31–14, 29–19, 21–13
Pts: Aiken, Simon 22
Rebs: Johnson 12
Asts: Grape 3		 Pts: Grantham, Maelasi 10
Rebs: Maelasi 14
Asts: Masaea, Toramo 2

Group B

Pos Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1  Fiji 3 3 0 219 178 +41 6 Advance to the semi-final round
2  Tahiti 3 1 2 166 187 −21 4[a] Advance to the quarter-final round
3  New Caledonia 3 1 2 199 200 −1 4[b]
4  Tonga 3 1 2 213 232 −19 4[c] Advance to the classification round
Source: FIBA Oceania
Rules for classification: a. points; b. win–loss record; c. goal average; d. head-to-head records; e. quotient system
Notes:
  1. ^ 1−1, 1.034 (beaten Tonga, lost to New Caledonia)
  2. ^ 1−1, 1.008 (beaten Tahiti, lost to Tonga)
  3. ^ 1−1, 0.967 (beaten New Caledonia, lost to Tahiti)
18 November 2023
09:00
Fiji  70–45  Tahiti
Scoring by quarter: 19–9, 14–16, 16–10, 21–10
Pts: Mclennan, Fox 15
Rebs: Fox 11
Asts: Whippy, Lum Kon 3		 Pts: Meuel 16
Rebs: Teriitemataua 6
Asts: Sommers 3
18 November 2023
11:15
New Caledonia  80–82  Tonga
Scoring by quarter: 23–19, 16–19, 24–17, 17–27
Pts: Chevrin 19
Rebs: Chevrin, Tetainanuari 7
Asts: Esneu 3		 Pts: Foketi 22
Rebs: Alipate 7
Asts: Foketi 4
20 November 2023
11:15
Tahiti  50–53  New Caledonia
Scoring by quarter: 9–15, 12–8, 13–17, 16–13
Pts: Commings 16
Rebs: Liu 6
Asts: Teriitemataua 2		 Pts: Tetainanuari 13
Rebs: Weber 12
Asts: Patche, Mitrail 2
20 November 2023
18:00
Fiji  81–67  Tonga
Scoring by quarter: 23–16, 19–20, 24–19, 15–12
Pts: Fox 24
Rebs: Fox 14
Asts: Lum Kon 6		 Pts: Alipate 20
Rebs: Sinisa 13
Asts: 3 players 2
21 November 2023
13:30
Tonga  64–71  Tahiti
Scoring by quarter: 11–19, 20–11, 13–15, 20–26
Pts: Foketi 20
Rebs: Foketi 6
Asts: Paea 3		 Pts: Commings 18
Rebs: Meuel, Commings 8
Asts: Teriitemataua 4
21 November 2023
15:45
New Caledonia  66–68  Fiji
Scoring by quarter: 15–22, 19–12, 18–15, 14–19
Pts: Adjouhgniope 12
Rebs: Weber 8
Asts: Esneu 3		 Pts: Waqabaca 22
Rebs: Fox 11
Asts: Whippy 3

Finals

 
PlayoffsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
 
 
 
24 November
 
 
 Guam93
 
22 November
 
 Samoa65
 
 Tahiti71
 
25 November
 
 Samoa81
 
 Guam47
 
 
 Fiji51
 
 
24 November
 
 
 Fiji71
 
22 November
 
 New Caledonia60 Bronze medal match
 
 Papua New Guinea78
 
25 November
 
 New Caledonia88
 
 Samoa61
 
 
 New Caledonia97
 

Playoffs

22 November 2023
14:30
Papua New Guinea  78–88  New Caledonia
Scoring by quarter: 18–20, 20–21, 19–26, 21–21
Pts: A. Muri 27
Rebs: A. Muri 9
Asts: C. Muri 5		 Pts: Chevrin 12
Rebs: Tetainanuari 8
Asts: Mitrail, Tetainanuari 3
22 November 2023
17:00
Tahiti  71–81  Samoa
Scoring by quarter: 18–16, 22–26, 22–19, 19–10
Pts: Chong Nee 24
Rebs: Nickel 12
Asts: Nickel 7		 Pts: Meuel 21
Rebs: Liu 11
Asts: Roopina, Liu 2

Classification 7th-8th

23 November 2023
12:00
Solomon Islands  59–83  Tonga
Scoring by quarter: 19–24, 11–18, 14–17, 15–24
Pts: Grantham 13
Rebs: B. Basia, Wong 7
Asts: 3 players 2		 Pts: Foketi 26
Rebs: Foketi 13
Asts: Aziziyan 3

Classification 5th-6th

23 November 2023
17:00
Papua New Guinea  84–77  Tahiti
Scoring by quarter: 24–19, 12–21, 20–16, 28–21
Pts: A. Muri 25
Rebs: H. Elavo 17
Asts: C. Muri 7		 Pts: Meuel 30
Rebs: 3 players 5
Asts: Teriitemataua 6

Semifinals

24 November 2023
17:00
Guam  93–65  Samoa
Scoring by quarter: 24–11, 22–18, 26–15, 21–21
Pts: White 20
Rebs: 3 players 7
Asts: Calvo 4		 Pts: Chong Nee 24
Rebs: E. Keil 7
Asts: Leaupepe 5
24 November 2023
19:30
Fiji  71–60  New Caledonia
'Scoring by quarter: 18–14, 18–13, 18–13, 17–20
Pts: Waqabaca 18
Rebs: Fox 11
Asts: Mclennan, Whippy 4		 Pts: Weber 15
Rebs: Tetainanuari 10
Asts: Chevrin, Esneu 3

Bronze medal match

25 November 2023
11:30
Samoa  61–97  New Caledonia
Scoring by quarter: 18–32, 10–16, 16–30, 17–19
Pts: Chong Nee 13
Rebs: Thompson 9
Asts: Chong Nee 2		 Pts: Fenuafanote 18
Rebs: Mitrail 10
Asts: Tetainanuari 5

Final

25 November 2023
16:30
Guam  47–51  Fiji
Scoring by quarter: 17–21, 19–11, 9–15, 2–4
Pts: T. Wesley 16
Rebs: T. Wesley 9
Asts: T. Wesley 2		 Pts: Waqabaca 17
Rebs: Fox 10
Asts: Waqabaca, Lum Kon 2

Final standing

Rank Team Record Qualified to
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Fiji 5–0 First Round Pre-Qualifiers of 2029 FIBA Asia Cup qualification
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Guam 4–1 First Round Pre-Qualifiers of 2029 FIBA Asia Cup qualification
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  New Caledonia 3–3
4  Samoa 2–4
5  Papua New Guinea 3–2
6  Tahiti 1–4
7  Tonga 2–2
8  Solomon Islands 0–4

Awards

The All Star Five has been named following the conclusion of the tournament.[6]

Position Player
All Star Five Guam Gabriel Simon
Papua New Guinea Apia Muri
Fiji Joshua Fox
New Caledonia Jean-Sébastien Chevrin
Fiji Filimone Waqabaca

References

  1. ^ "Sports - Basketball 5×5". 2023 Pacific Games Solomon Islands. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  2. ^ "GOC release Sol2023 Sports Schedule". Sol2023. 19 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Fiji pulls off stunning upset to claim men's basketball gold against Guam at Pacific Games". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 November 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Fijians Light Up Honiara and Win Gold". FIBA. 26 November 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Pacific Games Basketball schedule drops with 150 days to go". FIBA. 20 June 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Two Fijians Named in All Star Five". fiba.basketball. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.