KUWAIT CITY, Sept 19: LXG’s Mario Morooso scored 18 points to propel his side to a 67-62 win against HEISCO in the PHILBACK/Western Union 6th Conference Basketball Tournament Friday at the Jawara Halijia School in Reggae.

The results of the other games this week were as follows:
IKEA 55 vs KASCO 54, Safat Al-Ghanem 54 vs Go-Sport 50, Belles Crystal 86 vs Iloilo Bolts79, Wizara 40 vs Sabah Ahmad Cardiac Center 60, P.A.N.I.K 60 vs Kuwait Heart Center 39, BRGY.Tropa 60 vs Tropaks 50, LXG 67 vs HEISCO 62, Movenpick Hotel 72 vs FCOB.RMS 53.

Game one of the day was a hard fought inter-company clash between the home furnishers, IKEA and KASCO the aviation services specialists. Veteran player Philip Canlas, receiving a pass from Jess Servilla, made a fast run, tore through the KASCO defenses to lob the ball into the hoop for his first three points of the game in the first two minutes of proceedings. Almost immediately, Richard Layson also replied with a long shot into the IKEA hoop, drawing the first three points for his side. The way the two teams played showed they were of the same pedigree with neither in the mood to yield to the other, as IKEA with a win and a loss in the last two outings were eager to stay on the positive side of the balance sheet. KASCO on the other hand had lost their first game and were determined to get a win this time around by all means.

IKEA, however, managed to slightly dominate the first quarter by a one point advantage but the Aviation services guys quickly turned the tables in the second quarter, also leading by a single point. As the fortunes of the game swung between the sides, the third quarter saw both sides on 41-41 tie. The game finally got decided in the last quarter which saw IKEA take a one point lead to the last buzzer, ended proceedings on a 55-54 score line on the back of four doubles by Daryl Sauco with 22, Philip Canlas 18, Edward Mangalus 14 and Jess Servilla 14.KASCO’s gallant loss was paced by Joseph Paraon’s game high 28 and Jade Marasigan’s 20 points.

In Inter-Company action of game two, the Safat Al-Ghanem home furnishers got the better breaks in their match against co-league debutant Go-Sport who also had a win and a loss in their last rwo outings, to register their third win in as many outings on the combined efforts of Torpher Garospe who had 38 points and Mateo Estores with 12 points. The two prolific Safat scorers were supported by Gilbert Gamrol, Arnold De Leon and Marion Mercado who scored 2, 1 and 1 apiece to seal the 54-50 score line in their favor. The sports gear specialists were paced by Chris Mose’s 18 points and Gil Manalansans’ 12 markers.
Game two of the 5ft 8inch division featured Belles Crystals against Iloilo Bolts in what was the highest scoring and one of the most competitive ball games of the day with a final score line of 86-79 in the Crystals’ favor. Good old Jake Narvas scored the first points for the Crystals in the early part of the first quarter which finally ended with a 13-12 in favor of the Bolts. Led by Jake Solcedo, Nino Canlas and Gimo Icasiano who shot 28, 20 and 12 apiece, the Crystals took control of the game from the second quarter up the last and managed to end proceedings in their favor. Doods Basco hit 20, Nelma Allan’s 12 and Aries Garcera’s 12 helped in the lost cause of the Bolts.

With both teams having recorded one win and a loss in two appearances in the league so far, Wizara (formerly Al-Razi Hospital), narrowly defeated Sabah Ahmad Cardiac Center in their Inter-Medical Divisional encounter 40-39, which turned out to be the lowest scoring encounter of the 8-game day. the first quarter of the game was clearly won by Wizara 10-2 but as the heart specialists settled down to find their rhythm they managed to lower their 8 point deficit to 8 in the second half and eventually taking the lead by 2 points in the third, thanks to a revised defensive and offense strategy by their coach. Wizara, smelling defeat, quickly timed out for a strategy session, returned with an all out offense formation and managed to turn the tables in their favor, winning narrowly by 40-39, with that heroic win coming on the shoulders of Maverick Barnachea with 14 markers and Marlon Bulona 12. The Sabah Cardiac Center’s gallant play and narrow loss was engineered by Jonathan Albano with 20 hits and Jay Ny with 10.

Game five of the day saw P.A.N.I.K, winners of two previous games in as many outings; edge Kuwait Heart Center 60-39 in the second Inter-Medical Division clash that could qualify as a one-sided encounter at best. The Heart Center boys, who had lost their two previous games in as many outings, were very impressive from the onset, rallying to take a 12-10 first quarter lead, but their momentum began to slacken as the PANIK squad mobilized to control the game from the second quarter to the end. Heart Center’s staunch defenders like Jerry Geronimo, Dick and Dennis committed lots of fouls in the course of fending off the aggressive PANIK offensive players, resulting in numerous penalties which were ably converted by the latter. Most free shots resulting from fouls committed by the PANIK squad ended up outside the hoops by Heart Center shooters. Behind the PANIK’s convincing victory were Roden Quintino, whose performance makes him promising line operator in the tournament, with 18 points, Criziman Delrosario, 10 points and Kristopherson Queja with 8 points.
The Heart Center’s loss was paced by the encouraging performance of Jay Palma with 18 points, Hector Briones, 8 and Gerry Geronimo 6.

Continuing their winning streak in game six of the day, Brgy Tropa clinched a decisive 60-50 win over TROPAKS in an Open Division clash with a heart-stopping performance on the joint efforts of De La Cruz, Edejer and Garcia who finished with 26, 18 and 10 markers each while the rest of their teammates provided able support. Tropaks narrowly won the first quarter but the rest of the game went in favor of Brgy as they managed to overcome their initial loss of focus in the first quarter to strengthen their defenses as well as offense play by experienced line operators like De La Cruz and others.
Tropaks who lost their last two games in as many appearances, also had Abdelrahim Ahmad and Otep De La Cruz hitting 20 and14 markers for their losing cause.

LXG defeated HEISCO 67-62 in a highly competitive game seven encounter which was also the second open division clash of the day. as both teams stuck to their strategies in both offense and defense, LXG were able to narrowly take a first quarter 13-12 lead over Heisco, despite the latter’s show of excellent play and discipline. The rest of the game was no different as LXG did not let up in their onslaught on the HEISCO defenses, finally ending proceedings with a 5-point advantage.
In LXG’s win, Mario Morooso powered his way with 18 points, Dilbert Arogones 16 and Luie Natividad 10 together with a whole team effort. Heisco’s gallant loss was also paced by Freddie Cruz unloading 22 points, Kanovero Petines 16 points and Raymond Pacer 12.

Kenneth Najera led Movenpick Hotel to a surprising 72-53 win against last season’s champions FCOB.RMS in a high scoring game eight and second championship encounter of the day. The star studded Movenpick team brushed aside all threats to their defenses from the onset and taking the lead from start to finish. FCOB’s Marlon Batino was the one to pick up the first 2 points in the first few minutes of the game after a direct lob of the ball in to the hoops. There were to and fro exchanges by both sides, with the Movenpick Hoteliers always emerging with a slight advantage to the very last sound of the buzzer.
Kenneth Najera, Allan Mendiola, Kerby De La Rosa and Melvin Gatuz scored 20, 14, 14 and 12 points each to lead the Movenpick to the win, while Ferdie Cortez, Marlon Batino and Topher Garospe tallied 16, 14 and 12 to pace the loser.

Last week’s games
Earlier last week, Movenpick-ITHC bagged their first win against FCOB-RMS 99-79 in best of three games championship finals of Philippine Baskeball Club in Kuwait (PHILBACK) 6th Conference Open Division.
In the same arena, Iloilo Boltz achieved their initial victory when they beat Belles Crystal 88-84 in best of 3 games for the title in 5’8” Division while Movenpick walked home with 2nd place in the knock out games against Silver Lawrence 72-71.


On the other hand, the 7th Conference for Inter-Medical and Inter-Company League opened the same day and saw the participation of 6 teams in the Inter-Medical event while 13 teams signed up for Inter-Company tournament. These groups are bonafied employees of each organization.
Sabah Al Ahmad Cardiac Center brushed aside Bayan Dental 80-75 in the first game of the Inter-Medical tournament while Square Company outlasted (First Kuwait Trading Company) FKTC 84-82 in the Inter-Company Division.
On the other hand, a sub group has been created in the Inter-Company event to accommodate a mix of players from various institutions and is being called the open division. Three matches took place in this division with D’Lush overwhelming Mixer 83-68 while Brgy. Tropa edged Safara 46-44 and FKTC tamed Gemini Cargo 56-44.

Open Division
Movenpick-ITHC scored a 20-point victory over FCOB-RMS 99-79 in the first match of the best of three games in the Open Division championship finals.
Movenpick-ITHC have three premium players who are veterans in the field and their shooting was a class act. Kenneth Najera scored 36 points while Allan Mendiola got 16 and Kerby dela Rosa 12. However,the FCOB-RMS team saw two of their best players also get into the act with Topher scoring 14 points and Joey 12 points to get them within 6 points by the end of the first half. But Movenpick-ITHC pressed on the accelerator in the last quarter of the game to ensure their victory.

5’8’ Division
Iloilo Boltz fought for every point to edge Belle Crystal 88-84 in the first of three games for the tile in the 5’8” division. Iloilo Boltz found an antidote to outlast their opponent with Dirk Basco displaying some good shooting and scoring 26 points.
Meanwhile, one of the most recognized names in Filipino basketball and a candidate for this season’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Nelmar Alanan scored 22 points. Belle Crystal managed to deliver almost equally the same number of points through two of their best members with Archie getting 22 points and Topher 20, but with few minutes left in the last quarter Nelmar Alanan of Iloilo Boltz did the job for his team to secure a four-point victory.
Movenpick, on the other hand, walked home with 2nd runners-up award although they struggled for every point against the good team of Silver Lawrence before winning 72-71. Movenpick scored mostly through Darwin Juat and Anthony Rico who got 16 and 10 points respectively. Silver Lawrence bounced back through Mike and Boogie who delivered 19 points each. Movenpick Team Coach Joel Maghirang was happy with his team’s performance.

Inter-Medical
Sabah Al Ahmad Cardiac Center found the right antidote to score their initial victory against Bayan Dental 80-75 in the 7th Conference of the Inter-Medical division. One of the “heavy weight “ players from Cardiac Kerby dela Rosa — who is known for his 3-point shooting skills — delivered back to back long shots but the equally skilled “small but terrible” Espadero from Bayan Dental pulled off 18 points along with Jayson Rodriguez who handed 22 points which later put both the teams on an equal footing when the the buzzer sounded, resulting in an extension.
Meanwhile the hoops appeared unfriendly to Bayan Dental in the overtime play the concluded in a 5-point 80-75 victory for Cardiac.

Inter-Company
The Inter-Company 7th Conference saw Square Company get their first victory of the tournament when they beat First Kuwait Trading Company (FKTC) 84-82.
Square Company were provided 14 points by Masangkay and another 10 points by Cris Reyes that saw them ahead by 7 points at the end of the first half.
FKTC retaliated with some brilliant shooting from Torculas who contributed 36 points but they still fell short in the last few minutes of the last quarter with Square Company going on to win by points.

Inter-Company (Open)
In the sub class of Inter-Company-Open Division, D’Lush did not waste any effort to overpower Mixer 83-68. D’Lush saw most of the scoring coming through Fernandez who handed 22 points with the Dela Cruz duo delivering 20 points each. With a solid line of defense D’Lush controlled the game from the start to finish. The other matches saw a heart breaking defeat for Safara when they missed the last shot and time fell short that handed a 2-point 46-44 victory to Brgy Tropa in a low scoring game. Brgy. Tropa compiled 18 points through Dela Cruz along with one of the renowned and veteran players Andy Bucu contributing 16 points. Safara managed to achieve most of their points through two remarkable players — Joel Mallari and Jonas Espiritu — who scored 24 and 12 points respectively.

In the last game of the day of the same class, FKTC hammered Gemini Cargo 56-44 when Occena and Guevarra started off by contributing 7 points each. Due to a good offense FKTC managed to penetrate the rival defence and find the hoops.
Although, earlier in the first half Gemini Cargo were leading by 14 points with Delos Reyes scoring 16 points and Chris Taub 10, FKTC put together a solid line of defense that resulted in them trailing by 2 only points at the end of the 3rd quarter. FKTC pressed on the accelerator in the last quarter that saw their opponents gasping for air before they accepted a 12-point 44-56 defeat.
PHILBACK officials would like to thank Western Union for supporting their event.