KUWAIT CITY, July 3: It was a day of close contests with lots of fans braving the sandstorms to see their favorite teams play on Friday at the ongoing indoor PABAK/Western Union 25th Conference Basketball tournament at the Hawally Disabled Sports Club.
KFC Americana 74, KAFCO Popeyes 61
Meeting in the first game, the two restaurant giants engaged in a nip and tuck affair right off the bat, assuring the teeming fans present that their attendance in spite of the sandstorms outside was to be leisure time well spent.
The KFC boys who had won all matches in their last three consecutive encounters, made sure not to slip against the unpredictable Popeyes squad, banking on the double digit outputs of Paul Silvestre, Francisco Pascual and Rachel Javillo to eke past the latter en route to a 74-61 win at the buzzer.
Paul unloaded 21 with Francisco and Rachel adding 15 and 12 points apiece in KFC’s triumph. Erwin De Asis and Mark Viray paced loser KAFCO Popeyes with 16 and 12 points respectively.

Ali Abdul-Wahab 62, Marina FM88.8 57
Game two saw the Ali Abdul-Wahab boys struggle without leading gunner Jun Eclipse but his scoring partner Manix Valdexco took up the slack joined by Ryan Patto and Julius Reyes who helped provide the hustle in offense and steady defense to get them gag the horns of the determined Marina FM squad.
Manix finished with 22 markers while Julius added 10 and Ryan 8 points in Ali Abdul-Wahab’s win. Glen Cruz and Allan Yap tallied 14 and 10 points apiece in the losing effort for the Marina FM 88.8 squad.

Mighty Razcals 68, Apolo Saints 67
After their defeat in last week’s hard fought battle against the Pinoy Trip Restaurant, the Mighty Razcals have since bounced back with renewed vigor, narrowly winning this week’s encounter against the Apolo Saints. Their performance last week, however, showed they are a force to reckon with in the Inter-Company group and had all the signs of a strong team capable of giving the strongest teams around some headaches.
With big guys like Rex Echavia and Jose Bernal imposing themselves inside the painted area, delivering double figures along with Ruel Casper, Rene Mintu and Michael Del Pilar, Mighty Razcals hustled to a nail bitingly close 68-67 victory over the Apolo Saints in a game that could have swung either way up to the last second of play to the final sound of the buzzer.
Rex and Jose both tallied 21 with Ruel, Rene and Michael adding 9, 7 and 6 points each. Ninoy Guiwa, Vince Vidal and Leo Tono led Apolo Saints in the losing effort with 12, 10 and 9 points apiece.

Al- Mansouri Berksmen 78, Caboria Restaurant 54
After their narrow loss against Fil-Am last week, the Al-Mansouri Berksmen squad expunged the memory of that debacle by downing the Caboria Restaurant in Pro-Leaguers action in game four.
The game was close in the early going, Caboria taking the first quarter 17-15 with Al-Mansouri winning 19-18 in the second as both squads probed each other’s defenses.
But the restaurateurs’ defensive lapses in the third allowed the Berksmen to pile on the points with Marvin Sumague and Marlon Bautista alternating in puncturing the hoops in a 15-6 run and further padded their lead to 20 plus points and then spent the rest of the fourth period holding off a fierce counterattack by the restaurateurs led by Wang Dionesio and Manuel Palaspas, before coasting to a 78-54 win.
Marvin delivered 26 to top all scorers with Marlon adding 10, Jeff Luague 9, Erwin Batholome 8 and Edmond Davantes 7 points. Rene Dante and Bente Garabel paced Caboria Restaurant with 14 and 11 points respectively.

K.S. Pico 71, Apolo Realtors 63
With the long absence of K.S. Pico and Apolo Realtors from the tournament, one would have expected a rusty performance from both sides, but the doubters were proved wrong as the teams mounted a highly energized and competitive game, to the admiration of fans. Pico’s Mark Tadlas and Allan Nunez together shot 29 with Nico Lagarde and Edmar Sumande adding 8 and 6 points each in their 71-63 win over the ever-determined Apolo Realtors.
Aerial specialist Arvin Piscasio led the Realtors in their losing cause with 13 buckets while Jaime Perdido and Leo Reyes chipped in 8 and 7 points apiece.

Ilocano Warriors 71, S.M.B.K 66
After ending up with the short end of things in their previous games, Ilocano Warriors finally bagged a rare win, narrowly outscoring S.M.B.K by a few points, thanks to combined efforts of Angel Rilo, Carlos Tan, Edison Abayero and Dads Garcia who served 14, 10, 9 and 9 points respectively in their 71-66 win.
Felix Misa paced S.B.K with 12 points while the usually productive Nilo Mario managed only 9 points in the loss.

Flipside 71, Boubyan Warriors 68
With six players netting double digit outputs each, there was no way Flipside could lose the game, with Rommy Navaro firing 19 markers, Roy Mangalanos 12, Dado Rapanan and Richard Santos 11 apiece, Jimmy Caranjang 8 and Jeff Awidz 6 points in the fiercely fought game seven encounter that ended 71-68 in Flipside’s favor.
The much improved Glen Cruz produced 23 while Freddie Cruz and Nino Canlas chipped in 14 and 11 points each in a losing effort for Boubyan Warriors.

Pinoy Trip Restaurant 75, Kalex Company 69
Despite a virtually intact lineup, the Pinoy Trip Restaurant squad were hard pressed trying to subdue an undermanned Kalex Co. side in game eight of the day, taking some tremendous effort from the mercurial Rudini Dela Cruz to eke out a hard-fought win.
Rudini scored 17 with Mark Salavario, Cris Dela Cruz and Ivan Sotocado adding 7, 6 and 6 points each in the Pinoy Restaurant victory. Rey Sison tallied 14, Chris Carinal 11 and Joey Lorillal 8 points for the losing Kalex Co. squad.

Mario’s Restaurant 20, Sapupo 0
Mario’s restaurant were declared winners by default and awarded the maximum 20 points as their opponents, Sapupo failed to show up for the week-end encounter.
The PABAK/Western Union 25th Conference Tournament under the able management of Rod Cerezo and his team of officials is made possible by the kind sponsorship of Western Union Money Transfer, Natasha Cargo, Kabayan Corner, Gulf Air, Orbit-Showtime Network, Century Properties and Mais Alghanim Restaurant.