PNG men face big challenge in basketball against Samoa

By JACK AMI
THE national men’s basketball team face a daunting task against hosts Samoa in the quarterfinals at the Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa, today.
The other quarterfinal encounter will see New Caledonia play Tahiti.
Both winners advance to the major finals against Guam and Fiji who are both on standby. PNG finished their round-robin matches in group B with two wins. Fiji are unbeaten after three matches.
PNG are looking to secure their first Pacific Games medal playoff after settling for fourth in 2015 in Port Moresby.
PNG will be banking on the Wright brothers (Lloyd and Liam), Marty Leahy, Aron Farmer, Apia Muri, Moses Lune and captain Charles Parapa to steer them around the court.
These are the players who really need to stamp their mark in attack and commit themselves in defence to stop the much bigger and taller Samoans.
They should play as a team and execute well from the first quarter and maintain their intensity until the final whistle. This will only happen if they do the small things right and feed off rebounds in the encounter.
This will be a real test for PNG, who are coached by Joel Khalu. The Australian has put in a lot of work to get the team to where they are now.
Khalu will be hoping to secure a win against Samoa to keep their gold-medal hopes alive.