KUWAIT CITY, May 28: Caporia, South East, D’Brothers and defending champions 59ers scored contrasting victories Friday to move into the semifinals of 21st Open Category Goodwill Games Conference at the Bayan Bilingual School in Jabriya.
The quarter-finals games saw Caporia thump Desert Fox 58-40 while D’Brothers outlasted Tropaks 77-71, 59ers hammered SM Al Haddah 75-60 and South East won by default against Russel.
In the semifinals, whose schedule will be published later in the Arab Times, Caporia take on D’Brothers while 59ers will battle South East.
Meanwhile, there was only one match played in the 4th Inter-Company Championship which saw Crowne Plaza hammer Baroue 80-68 points.
These quality ballgames are being officiated by Filipino Basketball League (FBL)-Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) headed by Commissioner Demos Arienda along with his committed group of office-bearers who consistently work hard to deliver quality judgement in all the matches. These office-bearers include James Miranda and Victoria Apostol —Time and Score Keeper, BAP Referees — Ferdie Tadena, Aries Buenaventura, George Panganiban, Toots Apostol, Baylon Tenorio and Joel Acuna — FBL President.
Open Category
Caporia vs Desert Fox
Caporia, who led the elimination round, proved that they are one of the strongest contenders for this season’s crown when they once again showed some real class to thump Desert Fox after dominating the match from the start to the finish for a 58-40 point victory.
The initial quarter saw Caporia wearing their best shoes as they started off with a good defense and also collected back to back baskets from #12 Jeremiah Masangkay and #17 Jonathan Lago, who also hit a 3-point shot while Desert Fox opened up the match with a long shot from #8 Michael Roy Guro along with some points from #17 Eric Regencia but they remained one shot away from leveling the scores as Caporia led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter.
Caporia team were very soon jolted into action by their opponents ability and they showed what they are really made of when they came up with fast breaks and good assists with two of their premium members #17 Jonathan Lago and #12 Jeremiah Masangkay making sure that they delivered what was expected of them. They rarely missed any shot that handed their team a total of 38 points by the end of the 2nd quarter.
Meanwhile, Desert Fox appeared stunned by their rivals performance although they got in two shots each from #15 Larry Barrios, #5 Edwin Jose and #23 Mario Collado but this was not enough as they were left far behind because they could only score 25 points in the first half with Caporia’s lead stretching to 13 points. Caporia scored 23 points in the second quarter while restricting their opponents to 12.This was the quarter which made all the difference as it never allowed Desert Fox to get back into the game.
In the 3rd quarter, Desert Fox seemed to have lost their game plan, missing a lot of shots which allowed them to gather only 5 points in the whole quarter in the face of some really tight defence.
This tight defence provided the opportunity to Caporia to stretch their lead with non-stop baskets from #17 Jonathan Lago and #4 Alfredo Ceballos, who also hit a long shot, that moved them 21 points ahead with the score 51-30 at the end of the third quarter.
The last 10 minutes of the ballgame were not enough for Desert Fox to recover although #24 Raymund Mangampat drove in most of the shots. Caporia’s best player #17 Jonathan Lago kept firing in the baskets while they also managed a 3-pointer from #24 Sherwin Pascua that saw them walk home with 18-point victory with the score 58-40 at the end of the game.
This was clearly Desert Fox’s best quarter as they scored 10 points while their opponents managed only 7 but in the end it was all too little too late.
Wearing Jersey #17, Jonathan Lago — who contributed 21 points — was given the Best Player of the Game award.
D’Brothers vs Tropaks
D’Brothers, who got the same result as Tropaks — 8 wins and 3 losses — in the elimination round proved that they deserved to progress to the next level of the tournament but not before they were made to sweat and achieve a 6-point 77-71 victory.
The first quarter saw D’Brothers all warmed up as they put in their best efforts to claim most of the points through #1 backed by a long shot from #25 Jun Ninon.
From the other side of the courts, #18 Marvin Macaraeg had an answer to those long shot but it seems that Tropaks were still warming up as the score tallied 20-10 in favor of D’Brothers at the end of the quarter.
D’Brothers made sure that they extended their solid line of defense through #14 Dioction Leo that resulted in providing an easy access to #30 Arthur Pamatpat to penetrate the rival defence and find the hoops.
Tropaks collected most of their points from #71 Hakim Ahmed but those were not enough to do any damage as D’Brothers kept getting baskets at regular intervals to leave their opponents behind by 14 points for a 38-24 score at the end of the 2nd quarter.
Meanwhile, Tropaks tried as hard as they could to close the gap with some good defense from #6 Arthur Saclolo who also delivered a 3-point shot while they generated some fine shots through #33 Angelo Pavia, inclusive of a long shot but again this was not enough as their opponents maintained a steady scoring with the shooting arms of #33 Tom Kalaquian and #23 Joel Esquerdo doing the damage backed a by strong defense from #13 Mac Mac Mariano that kept them ahead by 12 points with the score 57-45 at the end of the third quarter.
A tussle for supremacy was witnessed in the last quarter as neither team proved that they were an easy prey that resulted in the observers on the spectators benches holding on to the edges of the seats.
With the ballgame getting “hotter”, it was not a surprise to see the temperature of one of D’Brothers’ best players #33 Tom Kalaquian shoot up resulting in him being called for a technical foul as he was said to used his elbow.
In spite of Tropaks getting ball possession and some penalty shot, D’Brothers still managed to get some good points from #25 Jun Ninon and #30 Arthur Pamattmat while Tropaks collected three amazing back to back long baskets from #33 Angelo Pavia and two from #18 Marvin Macaraeg along with some good points from #26 Dakz Calcuada.
Tropaks put in a lot of effort to close in with their opponents but the clock ran out of time as D’Brothers took the match by 77-71 points. This was clearly the best quarter for Tropaks as they scored 26 points while D’Brothers got 20 but the lead that D’Brother had built by the end of the third quarter was difficult to overcome.
The Best Player of the Game was was given to #24 Jun Ninon who delivered 14 points for D’Brothers.
59ers vs SM Al Haddah
The last game of the day witnessed defending champions 59ers determined to retain their title as they brushed aside SM Al Haddah by 75-60 points.
It was a low-scoring game in the first quarter as both the teams appeared to be warming up but still 59ers took a 10-9 point lead.
However it was not very long before SM Al Haddah moved their game up a gear and displayed good defense through #10 JC Carrion who at the same time delivered a long shot with strong support from #44 Elman Roque accompanied by some good points from #1 Aguillana.
From the other side of bench it seems that 59ers were taking their time as they wanted to set their pace for the match as they continued to slowly attack their rivals ring while gathering back to back shots from #5 James Galendez and #30 Bong Lareza that put them 29-25 points ahead by the end of the 1st half.
The well-oiled 59ers were finally awakened and a solid hold of the driver’s seat when they put up a solid defense through #10 that provided easy access to the ring to #8 Ferdinand Manzano, #5 James Galendez and #30 Bong Lareza as they compiled most of the score while their opponents put up a good defense through #44 Elman Roque and #13 Marlon Lopez that allowed #1 Aguillana and #6 Marlon Baluyot to get most of the points but they still fell short with 59ers leading 49-42 at the end of the quarter.
The Defending Champs pressed on the accelerator in the last quarter while SM Al Haddah tried their luck from the 3-point territory in an effort to score in less time but the hoops did not appear to be cooperating with them although they managed a long shot through #10 JC Carrion and a handful of points through #6 Marlon Baluyot.
59ers made sure that they kept the lead, getting baskets through #5 James Galendez and #8 Ferdinand Manzano and it was not long before the buzzer sounded and they had won the match by 75-60 points.
Wearing Jersey #8, 59ers’ Ferdinand Manzano — who scored 16 points — was given the Best Player of the Game award.
Inter-Company
Earlier that day, Crowne Plaza brushed aside a depleted Baroue side 80-68 points that made them 2nd best with their second win in as many matches.
The first quarter saw both Baroue and Crowne Plaza head for a good start as both the teams seemed to be well warmed up. Baroue managed to deliver an early long shot through #00 Ronan Fejay along with some points from #14 Domingo Ernest while from the other side of the bench #14 Marlon Medina had a reply to the 3-point shot accompanied by some good shots from #22 Billy Manalo which resulted in the first quarter ending 17-16.
However, it did not take long for Crowne Plaza to move up a gear and they came up with a good line of defense through #45 Louie Pangilinan and #4 Ryan Gomez that paved way for #11 Jessie Ortega to deliver most of the baskets, including a long shot, along with some fine shooting from #8 Philip Atong.
Baroue fought back through a tight defense from #16 Dorol Manny and managed to reply with a 3-point shot from #28 Nizon Rean but it was not enough to level with their rivals who moved ahead by 7 points 36-29 by the end of the first half.
Never at any point did Crowne Plaza show any complacency as they opened up the 3rd quarter with a long shot from #14 Marlon Medina that started a battle of 3-point shots that brought the crowd to their feet.
Baroue showed a lot focus and came up with a game plan to get back into the game. They got three long shots from #14 Domingo Ernest and two from #28 Nizon Rean while their rivals made sure that they kept control of the game by firing in a number of baskets through #11 Jessie Ortega and #14 Marlon Medina that saw them lead 60-54 at the end of the third quarter.
In the last quarter, the depleted Baroue team tried as hard as they could to get closer to their rivals and kicked off the quarter with a 3-point shot from #11 Reyes Mike and #53 Policarpio Natz.
The match soon started becoming hot and one of Crowne Plaza’s members #5 Abel Villanueva was slapped with a technical for contesting the referee. However, the ball possession and the bonus shot did not at any point affect the standard of Crowne Plaza’s game as they made use of every opportunity when they were awarded penalty shots to win by 12 points 68-80 when the buzzer sounded.
Crowne Plaza’s also took the Best Player of the Game award when it was given to #8 Atong Philip who contributed 20 points.
Initial Standings
Rank    Teams    W     L
1    Kuwait Energy    3    0
2    Crowne Plaza     2    0
3    Hilton Kuwait Resort    1    0
4    Holiday Inn    1    1
5    Safir International    1    1
6    MOH    0    1
7    Baroue    0    1
8    Al Tazaj    0    2
9    Bayan Palace    0    2
FBL-BAP organizers would like to offer their special thanks to their major sponsor Mohamed Aba Zid - General Manager of Al Fuad Exchange.