KUWAIT CITY, April 10: Action returned to the Bayan Bilingual School in Jabriya Friday with the continuation of the 19th Filipino Basketball League (FBL) Goodwill Games Conference.
Movenpick Al Bida’a showed some real class when they held on to their nerves to edge Holiday Inn 102-101 and Maidan maintained their unbeaten run when they thumped Triggers 84-70.
 Three other matches had been scheduled but did not takes place when one of each teams failed to show up for game. Kaibigan Uno won by default against Desert Fox, Papa John’s won by default against Columbus Café and Fil-Am won by default against Al Essa.
This event is being officiated by Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP)-Kuwait Chapter headed by Commissioner Demos Arienda along with his team comprising of Baylon Tenorio, Toots Apostol, Jhune Lagmay, Ferdie Tadena, George Panganiban, Jun Torres and Joel Acuna.

Movenpick Al Bida’a vs Holiday Inn
Although a number of matches were cancelled, the game between Movenpick Al Bida’a and Holiday Inn provided a real treat to basketball fanatics when a very close match was witnessed with Movenpick fighting for every point to edge Holiday Inn 102-101.
The initial quarter saw Holiday Inn all warmed up and their game really well planned as they came up with collective efforts to provide easy access to the basket to #11 Prats, #7 Felipe and #6 Beltran who were backed by a long shot from #31 Garcia to gave them 37 points.
Meanwhile, Movenpick Al Bida’a started off with a long shot from #18 Marlon Enriquez who pulled off two more 3-point shots in the same quarter alone along with back to back shots from #30 Ferdie Cortes and #16 Marlon Batino but they could only total 27 points in the 1st quarter as Holiday went 10 points ahead.
It was not long, however, before Movenpick Al Bida’a were awakened by their opponents ability and came up with a strong line of defense through #30 Ferdie Cortes who also managed some baskets.

Movenpick Al Bida’a consistently found the basket with long shots from #18 Marlon Enriquez and some unstoppable shots through #16 Marlon Batino and #88 Javier Jimenez.
This onslaught appeared to have slowed down Holiday Inn and denied them too much access to the hoops but they still managed to score enough baskets through #6 Beltran and #7 Felipe to stay 5 points ahead 56-51 by the end of the first half.
Meanwhile, tussle for supremacy was witnessed in the 3rd quarter when neither one of the teams showed that they were an easy prey as both the sides showed some real class from the 3-point territory through Holiday Inn’s best players #11 Prats and #6 Beltran but their efforts were given befitting replies by #18 Marlon Enriquez of Movenpick Al Bida’a who closed the gap to 76-79 points at the end of the third quarter.
The last quarter saw both the teams strive for victory that resulted in a seesaw battle and a number of deadlocks with a few minutes as they were tied first on 92-92, and then 96-96. Wearing jersey #16 Marlon Batino of Movenpick Al Bida’a consistently found the basket but their rivals answered back through #7 Felipe and #6 Beltran while one of Holiday Inn’s finest #9 Nuque delivered a long shot that put them ahead by one point 101-100 with a few seconds left in the ballgame.
When a foul was called in the dying minutes of the match one of Movenpick’s brilliant players #30 Ferdie Cortes made sure of delivering both the points from the free throw line and their rivals were short on time to recover as Movenpick walked home with only a single point 102-101 victory.

Maidan Clinic vs Triggers
Maidan proved that they are one the best teams this season title when they remained unbeaten in their 10 matches after they beat Triggers by 14 points 84-70 in their Friday game.
The first quarter saw Maidan in the best of their performances when they were all warmed up right from the start to acquire points through back to back baskets from #23 Jojo Obordo, #10 Joey Taleti and the unstoppable shots of #33 Oca Montemayor from the free throw line while from the other side of the bench a strong defense was put up by #19 Gadian and #8 Lorilla that provided opportunities to #13 Dado to pull off most of the points but this was not enough for them as the initial quarter favored Maidan who led by 5 points 20-15 when it finished.
In the second quarter Triggers managed to level their opponents when #16 Ghie came up with back to back shots that resulted with both the teams tied 20-20 at one point. Maidan was immediately lulled out of their sleep and put up a good defense through #33 Oca Montemayor who completed some good shots while one of their premium players #32 Mark Tadlas penetrated the rival defence and found the hoops that stopped their rivals from pushing forward as Maidan led by 20 points 42-22 at the end of the quarter. On the other hand, Maidan were never complacent at any point and stretched their lead through #25 Owen Fernandez, and Joey Taleti backed by a 3-point shot from #23 Jojo Obordo while Triggers pulled all their game together and came out with a plan to match their rivals. They managed a lot of shots through #8 Lorilla and #13 Dado but they were still left 21 points behind as Maidan led 64-43 by the end of the 3rd quarter.
Although, the Maidan team took things a bit easy in the last 10 minutes of the ballgame it appeared that Triggers could not find the right antidote to close up on their rivals who kept showing their shooting prowess. Two of Triggers’ best members #3 Joey and #23 Jeff drove in most of the points while from the other side of the courts #32 Mark Tadlas were given all the help they needed to score a number of points along with back to back 3 -point shots from #23 Jojo Obordo and #18 Nelmar Alanan that gave Maidan a 14-point 84-70 victory.

Initial standings
No.    Teams    Win    Loss    Games
                    to Play
1    Movenpick Al Bida’a    11    1    1
    2    Papa John’s    11    2    0
    3    Maidan    10    0    3
    4    FIL-AM    8    2    3
    7    Kaibigan Uno    6    5    2
    5    Holiday Inn    5    5    3
    6    Triggers    5    5    3
    8    Al Essa Shooters    5    7    1
    9    Columbus Café    4    4    5
    10    Desert Fox    4    8    1
    11    Shoonan    3    6    4
    12    Wizara    3    7    3
    13    Metal Center     1    7    5
    14    Sahara     0    8    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.