KUWAIT CITY, Sept 23: Lito De Guzman making his debut for Al-Sabah Collection as a utility player, managed to send his side surging ahead to clinch their first win (60-40) in the league, against the Guardian Republicans as the Philippines Amateur Basketball Association of Kuwait (PABAK)/Western Union 26th Conference Basketball Tournament entered week five at the Hawally Disabled Sports Club Friday.
The results of the nine games played in the week-end were as follows:

Popeyes 68 Vs KAPCO 56: KALEXCO 57 vs Voice Center 50, Buffalo Café 63 vs The Athlete’s Foot 48, Milna Tulao 49 vs Kabayan Fil-Am 39, Al-Nemash Int 83 vs Flipside 51, Club X 69 vs D’Prince 62, KEO 54 vs Marina FM88.8 49
Apolo Expeditors 77 vs Abdally Boyz 60: Al-Sabah Collection 60 vs Guardian Republicans 40.

Food specialists Popeyes KAFCO bagged their third win in the five-week old tournament by running roughshod over newcomer Calorie Control in Non-Leaguers action in the day’s opening match. With lessons learned from their week three encounter in which they nearly lost against the Voice Control, the Popeyes squad applied defensive pressure from the starting whistle and went full throttle on offense en route to an easy 68-56 win over Calorie Control, the Obesity buster’s squad.

Leading Popeyes to the win were Arnold Fuentes who delivered 12, Raymond Bautista 11 and Allan Tungal 10 points. Calorie Control, who had lost their second game in three outings, also had Mannix Vadezco, Jeff Laxa and Bernie Pandinola pacing their losing cause with 13, 10 and 8 markers apiece.
The Kuwait Aluminum Extruders Company (KALEXCO) managed to clinch their first win in the five week old league after a fiercely contested non-leaguers game against the Voice Center which ended 57-50 in their favor. The game which was Kalexco’s first win in three outings saw the determined Aluminum Extruders take the lead in the first half with a 5 point advantage, thanks to versatile player Ronald Labatos’ marvelous runs with support from his colleagues. The Voice Center squad managed to seize the initiative in the third quarter after a strategy overhaul by the coach, thereby cancelling their opponents’ 5 point advantage to take the lead by a net one point advantage but the momentum soon was lost as the Aluminum extruders came roaring back into the game in the last quarter to a final 57-50 end, handing the Voice Center squad their third loss in as many outings since the league begun.
Ronald Labatos and Ferdie Cortez led a whole team effort, scoring 12 and 10 points respectively for the winner while Davantes scoring 16 was aided by Mallari and Valencia who contributed 8 and 7 apiece to the losers’ effort.

In the first Inter-Company game, Buffalo Café’s Jester Villanueva had a field day penetrating the Athletes Foot’s defense almost at will on his way to unloading 18 markers in leading the Buffalo Café squad to a convincing 63-48 win, the first in two appearances in the league against the Athletes Foot.
Ronnie Cruz started the first quarter with a bold attempt to penetrate the sports equipment specialists’ defenses but was shoved down by a defender resulting in the first penalty of the game with Cruz scoring the resultant free shots leading to 20-13 first quarter scores in his side’s favor. The second quarter though saw the good winds blowing the way of the sports equipment specialist which saw them surge ahead with 4 clear points advantage over their opponents, but the Buffalo Café squad rallied back to take control of the game in third quarter taking it to the end and winning 63-48.
Jeffery Jacinto and Flaviano Ramirez also added 10 and 8 apiece to their team’s winning tally with Dindo Bernate and Willen Tollentino pacing the Athletes Foot with 11and 8 points apiece in the loss.
In the fourth game of the day, JC Net/Milna Tulao handed the Kabayan Fil-Am a 49-39 defeat in a low scoring non-leaguers game which saw both teams’ fortunes fluctuate from the first quarter to the third. The two squads started on an even keel, with JC Net ending the first quarter 14-10, but sloppy passing and lackadaisical defense on the part of the JC Net saw the Kabayan Fil-Am boys sitting squarely on the driver’s seat 8-5 at the halftime break.

With Erwin Paderon alternating in scoring with Nico Legarde, Basco and Ivan Garcera, JC Net padded their lead to 41-32 at the end of the third period with Fil-Am’s Don Don De La Cruz, Jayson Manzalo and Erik Baristo joining efforts by tightening defense in the final period to reduce the deficit to 10 points, thus ending proceedings with a 49-39 score line.
Erwin finished with 12 markers while Basco, Legarde and Garcera added 9, 8 and 6 points apiece. The Fil-Am’s De La Cruz, Jayson Manzalo and Baristo ended up with 8, 8 and 6 points apiece in their losing effort.
Al-Nemash International notched their second win in as many outings, clipping the wings of the Flipside squad the first runner up in last season’s Non-Leaguers championships who were headed for a third win in four games, in another Non-Leaguers encounter in game five.
Having come out very strong from last season’s championships as runners-up, the Flipside squad are still beaming with energy and were only stopped for the first time in the current season in their encounter against Al-Nemash International. By this victory, Al-Nemash have served notice to formidable opponents to be aware of their presence.

The lackluster out-of-sorts performance in defense by the Flipside squad made the offense minded and determined Al-Nemash squad with the likes of Rommel Dingson, Edsel Tura and Nories Dunos surging through the latter’s defense to slot in valuable points right from the first quarter of the game up to the end. Leading the charge to shoot down the giant Flipside were Rommel Dingson, Edsel Tura and Alex Batiga who finished in double digits while also leading their team’s defensive efforts. Digson and Tura shot 16 and 10 points respectively while Nories Duno and Alex Batiga managed just 9 and 7 points apiece.
Game six of the day featured Club-X, a returning team to the league winning their second game in as many outings against league debutants D’Prince, in an open division encounter. In this balanced game, D’Prince, powered by James Carillo with 13, Noel Bautista 11and Le Gaspi 10 together with a whole team effort, took a narrow lead in the first half, leading by a 3 point advantage but Club-X counting on their experience, were able to strategize and took over the game from the third to the end winning by 69-62 on the gallant performance of Choi Mico with 14, Lee Quiambao 11 and Roy Gareceta 10 points. James, Noel and Le Gaspi paced the D’Prince squad with 10, 8 and 7 points apiece.

Game seven of the day saw current Inter-Company champions KEO Engineers do battle against the current second runner-up of the same division. The two inter-company giants who both played and won their first games previously, were playing the second games and trying to maintain the zero loss record so far, but the level of skill in this encounter made it a very unpredictable one with all the four quarters of the game alternating between the two sides from the onset. Marina FM on the efforts of Allan Tap, JB Villanueva and Mediola together with the rest of the team, took an early first quarter 18-12 lead and as the engineers mobilized and counter attacked in the second quarter, they were able to jump onto the driver’s seat with a 19-11 score line on the efforts of Ed Sumague, Cris Pascual, Allan Villanueva and others. The radio squad again came back up in the third quarter but could not maintain the momentum as the engineers were able to claw their way back on top to finish the encounter 54-49 in their favor.
Apolo Expeditors’ 77-60 victory over Abdally Boys in the non-leaguers encounter of the day represented its third win in as many outings in the league so far despite being outnumbered by about two to one in the latest game by their opponents, with the latter’s record standing at two wins and as many loses.
14, 11 and 8 markers each from Allan Yap, Henry Apalin and Jaime Perdido plus 9 apiece from Vince Vidal and Jayson Pena netted Apolo their third win in as many outings, in yet another Non-Leaguers match, the eighth and penultimate for the day. Mervin Sugue, Pablo Reneses and Robert Opena finished with 8, 6 and 4 points in a futile effort for the loser.

The last non-leaguers action of the day saw Al-Sabah Collection clinch their first victory (60-40) in five outings of the five week-old league so far against the Guardian Republicans registering their third loss in as many outings. Al-Sabah led by Lito De Guzman in solid defense, took the lead in the first quarter through to the last quarter, ending the game 60-40 in their favor.
The two squads fought a ding dong battle all the way until the closing minutes of the game with Al-Sabah’s Fredie Cruz engaging the Republicans’ Dennis Oceana, Rito Caminade and Chris Bernadas in a tit-for-tat scoring duel that kept the crowd virtually on the edge of their seats in excitement and suspense though Al-Sabah were clearly in the lead with the Republicans hustling to catch up.
But the Republicans’ momentum hit a snag when workhorse James Galendez got saddled with four fouls in the closing stages of the game, rendering him virtually ineffective in defense, thus allowing the Al-Sabah’s Arthur Parmatmat to take over the game, scoring all 12 points in the final stretch including four straight free throws that iced the game. James Galendez had 10 and Julius Ragamac 13 in the Republicans’ losing cause.
The PABAK/Western Union 26th Conference Tournament under the able management of Rod Cerezo and his team of officials is made possible by the kind sponsorship of Western Express Cargo, Kabayan Corner, Gulf Air, Orbit-Showtime Network, Century Properties and Mais Alghanim Restaurant.