KUWAIT CITY, May 22: Despite a mix of lop-sided affairs and no-shows marking Friday’s action in the ongoing 25th Conference of the Western Union/ Philippines Amateur Basketball Associa-tion (PABAK) at the Hawally Disabled Sports Club, Apolo Saints managed to convincingly defeat the Jaguars 63-42.
The Saints victory came on the back of Wisham Basmayor’s 23 points with Leo Tono and Chris Liangro also contributing 10 and 8 points apiece to put the final nail in the Jaguars’ coffin.
The encounter between the two sides gave fans a good adrenaline rush to keep them up and alert to start their day off with an exciting encounter between two tactically matched squads.
The Saints raced off to a whirlwind start with Leo Tono scattering hits from all angles to give his team a 10-point (18-8) cushion at the halftme break.
The second half saw the Jaguars spring into the game with Rod Garcera and Babong leading the charge to slot in baskets, slowly and steadily chipping away the Saints’ sizeable lead. Neutralizing the Saints’ big lead, however, proved to be a tall order for the re-energized Jaguars, as the now fatigued Saints largely retreated to beef up their defense while scoring a few points.
The new found tactics and energy of the Jaguars in the 3rd and 4th quarters of the game enabled them narrow the wide gap that had existed but not nearly enough to make them win as the game ended with a final result of 63-42 in the Saints’ favor.
Boubyan Warriors 56, Desert Tigers 55
Nino Canlas scored 18 points to lead the Boubyan Warriors in a balanced scoring game and heated encounter to narrowly edge the Desert Tigers squad.
Paul Sanchez and Freddie Cruz also poured in a combined 25 points to have the game nailed in favor of the Warriors. 
The determined and unrelenting Tigers fought very hard with their players like Basco and Arnold in tit for tat scoring runs with their opponents to the very last minutes of the game, losing by a margin of one point.
This was a game in which tactics and luck counted a lot, with the latter favoring the Warriors to win by 56-55 score line.
ILOCANO Warriors 77, Al-Maidan/ Club-X 74
Carlos Tan and Bartoline with their combined 48 points in the basket, ganged up to form a two-man demolishing crew in the Al-Maidan/Club-X defeat in the nail biting encounter that saw fans from each side cheering wildly to the end.
This was an encounter that saw Al-Maidan/Club-X’s Loreto make a lightening speed move in the first seconds to lob in a 3-point shot for his side which ended up trailing the Warriors 20-8 in the first quarter. Al-Maidan/Club-X lifted up their game in the second quarter and with the tactical combinations of Joel and Jay, managed to take back the initiative with a 24-19 score line at that point.
As the game became a contest of tactics between the two coaches, Montemayor and De La Cruz, the 3rd quarter ended with Al-Maidan/Club-X still in the driver’s seat with a 19-17 narrow lead. The Warriors, after a strategy session with Coach De La Cruz, started the final quarter with unbelievable speed and fury and finally ending proceedings 77-74 in their favor in the hard fought encounter.
Jade Garden Restaurant 77, Barako Bay Hawks 68
 Alfredo, Labadan and Ronald scored a combined 39 points to propel Jade Garden Restaurant to victory against the Barako Bay Hawks.
The win which was the restaurateurs’ second in the season, was consolidated by the gallant play and contribution of Artie, Mel and Yap, who scored a total of 21 points to seal the 77-68 win. The Hawks, however were not a complete walk-over, as players like Cortez, Batino and Nelson did their best in contributing substantially to their team’s side of the result.
Mighty Razcals 20, Medics 0
Due to the Medics not showing up for their game against the Mighty Razcals, the latter were declared winners by default and awarded the maximum 20 points.
KFC Americana 20, Popeyes 0
KFC were declared winners by default and awarded the maximum 20 points because of a no show by Popeyes.
The results for the rest of the games were as follows:
n Suarez Pride Sailors 61, Miami UnderDawgs 39
n Pinoy Trip Restaurant 48, Flipside 46
n Al-Mansouri Berks Men 67, Apolo Realtors 63
The PABAK/Western Union 25th Conference tournament is made possible by the kind sponsorship of Western Express Cargo, Kabayan Corner, Gulf Air, Orbit-Showtime Network, Century Properties and Mais Alghanim Restaurant.