KUWAIT CITY, Aug 21: Hilton, B-Cielos, Safir and Sahara qualified to compete in the semi-finals of the 2nd Inter-Company Goodwill Games Conference at the Bayan Bilingual School in Jabriya after this week’s games saw Hilton Kuwait Resort brush aside Sahara 76-69 and Safir International overcame Baroue-Pirates 70-60.
Meanwhile, at the same arena in the 20th Open Category matches Triggers put in an amazing performance to edge Papa John’s-Pilipinas 88-86 while Heritage thrashed Tropaks 100-73 and Triskelion won by default against CLR.
These quality ballgames are being officiated by Filipino Basketball League (FBL)-Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) headed by Commissioner Demos Arienda and his committed group of office-bearers who consistently deliver fair judgment in all the matches. These include James Miranda and Victoria Apostol —Time and Score Keepers, BAP Referees—Ferdie Tadena, Aries Buenaventura, George Panganiban, Toots Apostol, Baylon Tenorio and Joel Acuna FBL President.

Hilton vs Sahara
Hilton showed some real class although they got off to a slow start as they appeared to be warming up and only managed to collect 11 points in the initial quarter but they also did not allow their rivals to move too far ahead.
They, however, kept the battle close in the next quarter as the match swung like a pendulum. Hilton got most of their points from #8 Ivan Sufocado and #7 Marwan Mansour while from the other side of the courts #8 Shika Letoba filled in most of the baskets along with a 3-pointer shot from #28 Arnel Castillo that saw them lead 31-30 by the end of the 1st half.
Hilton then moved up a gear in the 3rd quarter and displayed some brilliant shooting skills through #17 Dionisio Wang accompanied by some intense defense from #8 Ivan Sufocado while Sahara put in their best effort and gained points through #28 Arnel Castillo and #18 Roberto Gueno but their effort was not enough as their rivals put in an impressive performance to lead by 12 points 58-46 at the end of the third quarter.

Sahara struggled to match their rivals in the last 10 minutes of the game and put up a solid defense through #5 August Esplago and #28 Arnel Castillo, who was fouled out.His fouls included a technical foul and with his departure came the chances for #1 Adrian Sarillana to compile most of the points, including a long shot.
Hilton proved that they were really on top of the game as they never took things easy at any point and they continued to pile on the points through #7 Manwar Mansour and #17 Dionisio Wang that put gave them another as the score was 76-69 when the buzzer sounded.
Wearing Jersey #17 Dionisio Wang of Hilton was given Best Player of the Game award.

Safir vs Baroue
Safir International joined the semi-finals when they overwhelmed Baroue-Pirates by 70-60 points earlier that day.
The initial quarter saw both teams still warming up but Baroue-Pirates were determined to show their class when they drove in three back to back long shots through #53 Natz Policarpio, #28 Rolan Lizardo and #20 Harry Samaguen while Safir managed to reply two of those three-pointers that saw Baroue take a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Baroue-Pirates scored another three long shots in the next quarter, with two coming from #53 Natz Policarpio and #28 Rolan Lizardo along with some fine shots from #00 Fejay Ronan while Safir tried to match and produced some points through #23 Jomar Dunca and #3 Benjie Malijan but they remained short by 5 points as their opponents led 39-34 by the end of the 2nd quarter.

The Pirates kept the lead in the 3rd quarter when they found the game to their liking and they got a number of shots from #11 Mike Reyes.Safir were stretched hard to stay in the match but they did not allow their opponents to move too far ahead as the Pirates led 52-48 at the end of the third quarter.
Safir displayed their real colors when the last and final quarter came to its pace as they put on their foot down hard on the accelerator and at the same time put up a solid line of defense through #19 Jhun Ballesteros that gave opportunities to #23 Jomar Dunca and #3 Benjie Malijan to maximize the chances that came their way.The Safir pressure was so much that their opponents could not match their efforts and it was not long before Safir sailed to a 10-point 70-60 victory while their opponents were left on the courts trying to figure out what had gone wrong after such a solid start. With this victory Safir moved into third place in the standings and an automatic slot in the semifinals.

The Best Player of the game award went to #23 Jomar Dunca of Safir.
Although there is currently a tie between Hilton Kuwait Resort and B-Cielos as both of them have 6 wins and 1 loss each, Hilton are occupying the top spot in the standings because they has earlier beaten B-Cielos.Head to head clashes are considered in such situations to break a tie.

With the top three positions having been decided, there was a triple tie for the last semifinal slot between Sahara, Baroue-Pirates and N-Dash and to break the tie the following two rules were applied:
1) head-to-head clashes between the teams
2) point average.
In this case, the first rule was enough to break the tie since Sahara won their earlier games against Baroue-Pirates and N-Dash while Baroue-Pirates had beaten N-Dash. This resulted in Sahara occupying 4th place in the standings and with it a came the chance to play in the semi-finals
The organizers also clarified that since Black and White did not play all their matches, the games against them were counted as victories for their rivals.

Meanwhile,the semi-final matches are scheduled to take place on 27th August, Friday at the same venue with the first match at 0745-0915 hours between Hilton & Safir and at 0915-1045 hours between Sahara & B-Cielos.
FBL-BAP officials would like to inform everyone that the Inter-Company League is exclusive for the bonafide employees of the competing organizations. They also would like to inform everyone that registration is now open for the 3rd Inter-Company League which is scheduled to officially open in September. All teams are invited to take part.

Final Elimination Standings
Rank Team W L
1 Hilton Kuwait Resort 6 1
2 B-Cielos 6 1
3 Safir International Hotel 5 2
4 Sahara 3 4
5 Baroue-Pirates 3 4
6 N-Dash 3 4
7 Wizara 2 5
8 Black & White Restaurant 0 7

Open Category
Triggers vs Papa John’s
One of the best games of the day saw Triggers hand a heartbreaking defeat to Papa John’s-Pilipinas after a match that went right down to the wire before Triggers finally subdued their opponents by 88-86 points.
Papa John’s were in their best form in the first quarter as they seemed to be warmed up and raring to attack. They delivered back to back baskets from #5 Chris Reyes, #4 Alfredo Ceballos, #1 Walfredo Banez and #0 Oliver Nicolas while the players on other side of the bench were also in form as they acquired most of their points from #28 Noli Diez, #10 Kim Poliquit and #77 Darwin Nunez that saw the score at 22-17 after the first half.
In the 2nd quarter, Triggers realized that Papa John’s were not an easy opponent and this saw them tighten their defence through #10 Kim Poliquit that resulted in #42 Arman Gadia and #7 Benjie Gatabel gaining access to the hoops that swung the match in their favor as they led by 40-37 points at the end of the 1st half.

However, it was not very long before Papa John’s moved up a gear and put in tremendous efforts as they came up with a game plan which saw a lot of emphasis on defense through #17 Jonathan Mc, #4 Alfredo Ceballos and #14 Johann Bautista that not only blocked their rivals also gave them a number of good baskets from #5 Chris Reyes and #1 Walfredo Banez.
From the other side of the bench #10 Kim Poliquit once again exhibited some fine shooting and he was backed up by #42 Arman Gadia but they came out short as the lead changed hands once more with Papa John’s ahead 66-61 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The last 10 minutes of the ballgame saw the arena nearly exploding with the loud cheers from the crowd as they backed their teams who by now had the basketball fanatics on the edge of their seats.On the courts the see-saw battle continued and there were a number of deadlocks, the first on 76-76 and then on 83-83.

Three of Papa John’s prime players — #1 Walfredo Banez, #20 Jayson Magallanes and #11 Jeremiah Masangkay were fouled out — in the critical time of the last quarter that handed the advantage to Triggers although they managed to acquire a long shot thru #5 Chris Reyes to move ahead 86-85.
With time running out fast, the Triggers team played extremely well with #7 Benjie Gatabel making sure to put both the bonus shots in the basketball and give his team a 87-86 lead.Soon a foul was called and #77 Darwin Nunez scored another point from the free throw for Triggers as time failed to favor Papa John’s with Triggers winning by 88-86 points.
Wearing Jersey #10, Kim Poliquit of Triggers was given the Best Player of the Game award.

Heritage vs Tropaks
Heritage once again proved that they are the team to be taken seriously this season when they smacked Tropaks for a 27-point 100-73 victory in the last game that took place. With this victory Heritage maintained their unbeaten run having won all their four matches.
The initial quarter saw Heritage once again in their fighting form as they started to fill the hoops with shots through #18 Jovel Serdena and #13 Darwin Espelita while from the other side of the bench there were back to back long shots from #02 Rodiemel Yap but these were not enough to level their rivals who led 21-18 at the end of the first quarter.

Meanwhile, both teams displayed the same level of energy when the next quarter came to its pace, Heritage made sure that #13 Darwin Espelita worked wonders along with a lot of support from #29 Don Dwiggins to keep them in the lead while one of Tropaks “best man” #02 Rodiemel Yap seems never to tire as he repeatedly found the hoops and contributed 15 points in the 2nd quarter alone after he received good passes from his teammates.Two other Tropaks’ other prime players — #10 Darwin Juat and #04 Jeremie Figuracion — loaded more points into the rival basket to close the gap to only 4 points 42-46 by the end of the 1st half.
However, it was a different story in the 3rd quarter as Heritage moved into in full battle gear as they made sure of building a strong defense through #33 Marlon Enriquez and this worked well as #18 Jovel Serdena got lots of opportunities to find the basket.

Tropaks failed to match their rivals overwhelming performance although they managed to pulled off a long shot from #12 Joseph dela Cruz and #02 Rodiemel Yap as Heritage really pushed down hard on the accelerator for a 14-point lead at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Fighting hard in every minute of the final quarter, Tropaks collected another two back to back 3 pointers from #02 Rodiemel Yap and #03 Angelo Pavia but these shots was not enough as their opponents had an answer to them through #33 Marlon Enriquez along with consistent shooting from #4 Ferdinand Manzano that saw them easily take the game 100-73.
The Best Player of the Game award was given to #13 Darwin Espelita of Heritage.
Meanwhile, FBL-BAP organizers have decided that Tropaks have been declared winners of the game they lost last week to CLR previous due to technicalities apart from the latter having no uniforms.CLR had failed to inform the officials about changes in their line-up of players.

Initial Standings
Rank Team W L
1 Heritage 4 0
2 Triggers 2 1
3 Papa John’s 2 1
4 Malena 2 2
5 Triskelion 2 2
6 Russel 1 1
7 Tropaks 1 1
8 CLR 0 5

FBL-BAP organizers would like to give special thanks to Menilyn Lavarez AIM Global, Caroll Ong from Metrobank Super Bilis Padala and Beth Garello and Reynaldo Santos from Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corporation for supporting their events.