KUWAIT CITY, Jan 23: Five mouthwatering basketball matches were seen once again Friday at the Bayan Bilingual School in Jabriya in the ongoing 19th Filipino Basketball League (FBL) Goodwill Games Conference.
Movenpick Al Bida’a, formerly called Saints, are now topping the standings as they continued their unbeaten run in four matches when they overpowered Sahara 89-68, while Maidan Clinic are comfortably seated in 2nd place with unbeaten streak in three matches as they thrashed Al Essa Shooters 93-58. On the other hand, Fil-Am — previously called MSS —thumped Kaibigan Uno 95-70, Holiday Inn overwhelmed Metal Center 88-71 and Triggers were stretched to the limit before they edged past Desert Fox 81-78.
This event is being officiated by Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP)-Kuwait Chapter with Commissioner Demos Arienda alongwith Baylon Tenorio, Toots Apostol, Jhune Lagmay, Ferdie Tadena, George Panganiban, and Joel Acuna.

Movenpick Al Bida’a 89, Sahara 68
Movenpick Al Bida’a, once called Saints, kept their four-match undefeated record after another excellent performance that saw them top the after their 89-68 victory against Sahara.
In the first quarter Movenpick Al Bida’a were in their best shoes when they took a 13-point lead 23-10 due to some accurate shooting from #16 Marlon and #28 Sam while Sahara were also among the points after collecting a points from a number of players including a long shot from # 28 Arnel Castillo.
Movenpick Al Bida’a moved their game up in the next quarter and extended their lead through #9 Rio Nuique and #16 Marlon accompanied by a strong defense marshaled by #20 Wilbert Suarez that kept them in control 41-22 by the end of the 2nd quarter.
The 3rd quarter saw Sahara struggle to score against their opponents and although they tried to match their rivals shooting skills, it seemed that Movenpick Al Bida’a were in no mood to ease the pressure and refused to provide any opportunity to their rivals to even get close in anyway and pressed down hard on the accelerator with four back to back long shots, two of those coming from #18 Marlon Enriquez, with one each from #88 Jovien Jimenez and #9 Rio Nuique. From the other side of the bench #21 Angelito Bardon found the baskets for 13 points including one 3-point shot for his team but this effort remain insufficient as their opponents led 72-43 by the end of the 3rd quarter.
The 29-point lead of Movenpick Al Bida’a was difficult for Sahara to surmount since their opponents were never complacent at any point in the game to wrap up a 21-point victory 89-68.
Wearing Jersey #16 Marlon of Movenpick Al Baida was given the Best Player of the Game award.
Triggers 81, Desert Fox 78
Triggers were made to sweat before they could take control of their game against Desert Fox that concluded in a 81-78 victory for them.
The initial quarter of the match saw Triggers in full battle gear when their players combined well to hand a number of assist to #8 Joey Lorilla who did not fail his teammates and scored 12 points in the first quarter alone while from the other side of the bench the players still seemed to be warming up but they still managed to repeatedly hand the ball to #4 Arvin Ambasing who got most of the scores but they still came out short with Triggers leading 23-14 at the end of the quarter.
Desert Fox immediately realized that Triggers were not an easy target as they pressed hard on the accelerator, moving their game to a higher level of defense and getting fine shots from #5 Junriel Soriano and #3 Geroll Cabuhat that saw them behind only by 2 points 32-34 at the end of the first half.
The 3rd quarter saw that Triggers had recognized the ability of their rivals and maximized all their opportunities from the 3-point territory through back to back shots from #3 Joie Talaba.
However, Desert Fox stamped their authority on the game through outstanding shots from #3 Geroll Cabuhat, #5 Junriel Soriano, #16 Junrey Decierto and #15 Barrios to pile up a 6-point lead 58-52 by the end of the 3rd quarter.
The last 10 minutes of the game witnessed the determination of Triggers and they came up with a game plan by spontaneously executing wonderful shots from #21 Darwin Nunez and #8 Joy Lorilla — who made sure of not missing any free throw shot — that resulted in them beating their opponents by 3 points 81-78.
Wearing Jersey #8 Joey Lorilla of Triggers bagged the Best Player of the Game award.
Fil-Am 95, Kaibigan Uno 70
Fil-Am — who were formerly known as MSS — once again showed some real class after an easy game against Kaibigan Uno whom they thumped by 25 points 95-70.
Early in the first quarter Fil-Am and Kaibigan Uno were all warmed up and seemed to be wearing their best shoes as they some excellent shooting skills. Fil-Am penetrated the rival defence repeatedly and found the hoops through #15 Vallega along with back to back long shots from #12 Mike Sumague and #16 Jerry Tan while from the other side of the courts #12 Arnel Bustillo showed a lot of accuracy from the 15-foot line but Kaibigan Uno finished one point behind 22-23 at the end of the first half.
Fil-Am stunned their rivals at once when #16 Jerry Tan fired an early 3- point shot while #8 Kenneth Najera found the basket three times in a row. Fil-Am also put up a strong defence that held back their opponents and also gave them a 6-point 38-32 lead at the end of the 2nd quarter.
On the other hand, Kaibigan Uno make an effort to level their rivals overwhelming energy through some good shots from #12 Arnel Bustillo but their sweat did not paid off much when Fil-Am hasten their move toward victory drawn by back to back shots from #15 Vallega and #12 Sumague that extended a huge amount of lead 64-46 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
It was not an easy task for Kaibigan Uno to overcome their rivals and although some amazing shots were driven #12 Arnel Bustillo and #19 Mark Pangilinan together with #22 Arnold Ponseca’s 3-point shot they still fell short as Fil-Am never missed from the 3-point territory through #16 Jerry Tan and #12 Sumague to finish the game with a 95-70 point victory.
Best Player of the Game was #12 Mike Sumague of the Fil-Am team.
Meanwhile, BAP Commissioner Demos Arienda announce that Bartolome has been banned from playing in any FBL game along with Lynette who been banned to be the head coach of any team in this tournament.
Holiday Inn 88, Metal Center 71
Holiday Inn ruled the game against Metal Center to win by 17 points 88-71 after be in control of the match from the start to the finish.
Metal Center appears to be low in energy although they came up with 13 points initially acquired mostly through #31 Edward Villaruz shots while from the other side of the courts Holiday Inn obtained easy access to the hoops through #6 Richard Beltran, #11 Martin Prats, #8 Philip Atong and #3 Arnold Eusantos that saw them ahead by 10 points 23-13 at the end of the first quarter of the game.
Wearing jersey #5 Francis Guerero and #7 Felipe Elisalde got most of the points for Holiday Inn while one of the prime players of Metal Center #3 Jeff Espadero got 9 points — inclusive of a 3-point shot — but he could not not fill much of the gap as Metal Center were 13 points adrift 29-42 at the end of the 1st half.
Never at any point were Holiday Inn complacent in the 3rd quarter when they maintained the same performance they had shown earlier and it was this spirit that their rivals failed to match. Holiday Inn were soon ahead by 17 points at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Metal Center put in a lot effort through some fine shots from #31 Edward Villaruz, but Holiday Inn showed some real class in the final quarter with back to back long shots from #42 Mark Ravelos that concluded a 17-point 88-77 victory for them.
Holiday Inn’s #6 Richard Beltran was named Best Player of the Game.

Maidan Clinic 95, Al Essa Shooters 58
Maidan Clinic — one of the major contenders this season — ended Al Essa Shooters’ unbeaten journey while at the same time continuing their own in the last match of the day to win by 93-58 points.
Before the start of the match Maidan had been unbeaten in both their matches while their rivals has a 100 percent record in their three games by Maidan proved to be too strong as they took the match easily with a very strong demonstration of their willpower.
Earlier in the first quarter Maidan Clinic overshadowed the Al Essa shooters when they built a massive lead of 21 points mainly due to the superior shooting of #23 Jojo Abordo, #10 Joey Taleti and a long shot from #32 Mark Tadlas while an early 3-point basket from by #7 James Galin of Al Essa Shooters did not do much as Maidan Clinic led 34-13 points after the first quarter.

The second quarter was also dominated by Maidan with their rivals not able to do much.
Meanwhile, Al Essa shooters came up with back to back 3-pointers from #9 Gener Capili and #10 Neil Toledo but their opponents never slowed down as they scored well in the 3rd quarter that stay in control and lead by 31 points 72-41.
Never at any point did Maidan play easy in the last quarter of the game as they put up solid defense and executed some exceptional shooting that left their rivals in their wake to finish the game with a 93-58 point victory.
And with this victory, Maidan moved up to 2nd best with an unbeaten record in the three matches that they have played.
Best Player of the Game was #10 Joey Taleti of Al Maidan Clinic.

Initial standings    GP    W    L
Movenpick    4    4    0
Maidan    3    3    0
Al Essa    4    3    1
Papa John’s    4    3    1
Fil-Am    3    2    1
Holiday Inn    3    2    1
Desert Fox    5    2    3
Kaibigan Uno    5    2    3
Shonan    1    1    0
Metal Center    3    1    2
Triggers    3    1    2
Shrimpy    1    0    1
Wizara    3    0    3
Sahara    5    0    5
FBL, FMVL and FWVL organizers would like to thank their sponsors Caroll Ong from Metrobank Super Bilis Padala and Red Bull Energy Drink for supporting their events.