Fiji boys under-15 basketball team played their first game of the competition and came away with an 85-82 upset over Guam, who were unable to complete another comeback run.

As it was their first game, Fiji came in with some jitters.

“I got a bit nervous walking in here, there’s a lot of people,” said Ratu Gosho Vishanin, who ended up being Fiji’s star in this game.

If he was indeed nervous, Vishanin did a good job of hiding it. He came out of the gates firing all cylinders, scoring 13 points by himself in the first quarter alone for Fiji – nearly matching Guam’s total of 17 in the first interval. He’d end up with a dominating line of 29 points on 12-22 field-goal shooting, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks.

“It was a pretty good, close game,” he said. “It was really intense the whole time.”

“It’ll give me confidence going into the next games,” he added about his big-time scoring performance, also saying that his key to putting up big numbers was some recent weight loss.

Of course, he was not alone as Kalae Kenny nearly matched the highest scoring total with 27 total points with 4 three-point shots made and Vishanin was quick to point out his teammate’s impressive play.

“Gotta shout out Kenny,” he said. “He’s from New Zealand, I’m living in Australia so we didn’t have a lot of training together but I guess we got good chemistry.”

Guam trailed Fiji by as much as 12 points in this game and were still down by nine points midway through the fourth quarter. But once again, they had a magical run left in them.

This time, it was Mario Bork who exploded for 13 points down the last five minute stretch, eventually knotting the game at 82-82 with less than a minute to go. Unfortunately for Guam, Bork and the team would not score again and the star scorer finished the game with 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals.

Fiji ended up cracking through the Guam defense, making way for Leo Kruger to deal a clutch floater to claim the lead for good. He’d also apply pressure on the defensive end on Bork in the following play to seal the deal, ending up with 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Fiji are now in position to be able to sweep Group B, while Guam are at 1-1.