KUWAIT CITY, Nov 26: After a month’s pause, due to the non- availability of a venue, players were back in action in the Inter-Company and Open Category Goodwill Games Conferences — organized by the Filipino Basketball League (FBL)-Basketball Association of the Philippines, at their new venue in Al Nasser Sports Club, Jleeb, Friday.
The 5th Inter-Company saw Toyota Al Sayer score their first win of the tournament when they overwhelmed Al Tazaj Restaurant 76-67, Anham brushed aside Caporia 91-75 and Ministry of Defence (MOD) hammered Fuddruckers 66-54 for their second victory in three matches.
With this victory Anham take a share of the top spot with Shrimpy — who were not in action this Friday— as both of them have won twice in as many matches.

The 22nd Open Championship witnessed action in only one match as 59ers continued to show their class and remain the leaders in this tournament when they overpowered Pinoy Kuwait 78-51 while Tropaks won by default against Desert Fox and newcomers Marina Volts followed the same route when they won by default against Defending Champions South East.
With the above results, Marina Volts scored their third win in four matches to take a share of the lead but they remain in second place as they have played a game more than 59ers while Tropaks moved to third place with their default win and remain unbeaten with two wins from their two matches.
These quality ballgames are being officiated by Filipino Basketball League (FBL)-Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) headed by Commissioner Demos Arienda along with the following group of committed office-bearers who consistently strive to provide quality matches: 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.

Inter-Company
Toyota vs Al Tazaj
Early in the day, the well-oiled Toyota Al Sayer team managed to score a 9-point victory against Al Tazaj when they beat them by 76-67 points, although both the teams were evenly balanced for most of the match with Toyota only dominating the last quarter.
The initial quarter saw Al Tazaj in their best shoes to score 17 points after some back to back baskets from #31 Leoner Rocrayo and #27 Renato Cruz while from the other side of the bench #15 Sotero and #00 Po managed to deliver most of the points but a long shot from #13 Roxas kept them close with their opponents who led by 17-15 points at the end of the quarter. Both the teams were equally strong in their offense and also had a strong defense.

However it was not very long before Toyota showed their skills by moving up a gear up while the equally-skilled players from the Al Tazaj squad — who only joined the tournament earlier this season — picked continued putting in a good performance with both the teams finishing on 30-30 by the end of the first half. Toyota managed to score 15 points again in this quarter while restricting their opponents to 13 points to tie the match.
Toyota scored through #32 Lambujon and #6 Mico Choi —one of the veterans in the field — while Al Tazaj made sure to bounce back with some good shooting from #15 Tito Ause and again from two of their premium members — #31 Leoner Rocrayo and #27 Renato Cruz — who received good pass from their teammates. Neither team was given a free hand by their rivals as both sides try to take control of the match without much luck.

This tussle for supremacy continued in the 3rd quarter of the ballgame and the spectators were treated to some excellent exhibition of basketball when none of the teams proved that they were an easy prey.
This exhibition of skills resulted in a seesaw battle as Al Tazaj strengthened their line of defense through #28 Jeffrey Canasades while #31 Leoner Rocrayo was a model of accuracy to deliver two back to back long shots with some points coming from #27 Renato Cruz.
Meanwhile, Toyota Al Sayer continued to fight hard with back to back baskets from #6 Mico Choi, #15 Sotero and #00 Po but neither team was dominant with both the sides scoring 22 points each to once again remain on an equal footing as the quarter ended with the score 52-52.

The last 10 minutes of the ballgame witnessed Toyota Al Sayer press down hard on the accelerator backed with a solid line of defense driven by #21 Cabali that resulted in easy access to the baskets for #6 Mico Choi to deliver most of the points but the going was still never easy as Al Tazaj retaliated with brilliant shooting from #31 Leoner Rocrayo that saw both the teams tied a number of times — 61-61, 64-64 — before Toyota drove away with the match.
Toyota’s owe their victory to #00 Po — who was later given the Best Player of the Game award— who contributed 16 points while making sure sure that he was very accurate from the free throw line. Al Tazaj tried to put up a fight and remain in the match but it was not their day as Toyota would not relax their grip now that they were in control and held on to score a 9-point 76-67 victory.
With the result of this game, both the teams have now scored one win in the two matches that they played so far in this tournament.

MOD vs Fuddruckers
MOD managed to find the right antidote against newcomers Fuddruckers when they brushed them aside after dominating the game from the start to the finish for a 66-54 points victory.
With this victory, MOD took a share of the lead as they have now scored two wins in three matches while for Fuddruckers it was their fourth straight loss to remain at the bottom of the table. As luck would have it, Fuddruckers have seen the most action in the tournament and seem to be getting better with each match.

The initial quarter saw that both the teams were warming up but the score tallied 17-15 points in favor of MOD with most of the points coming from #54 Tyrell and #26 Leo while from the other side of the bench #1 Banez, one of their best members, scored 11 points in the same quarter alone when he received good assists from his teammates.
Meanwhile, MOD never took things easy and continued to rule in the next quarter as they produced a number of points through #13 Jay-Cris and #3 Eric while #54 Tyrell made sure of being perfect with his free throws.This excellent combination saw MOD total 33 points by the end of this quarter.
Fuddruckers tried to keep close on their opponents’ trail when they scored 14 points in this quarter through back to back shots from #1 Banez and #6 Dela Cruz but the first half ended with MOD taking a 33-29 lead.

Fuddruckers strengthened their defense in the third quarter through #19 Sugaril and #20 Diaz and acquired a long shot through #41 Galland but their opponents kept firing in shots from the free throw line through #41 Hersey that strengthened their lead to 8 points with the score 44-36 in favor of MOD by the end of the 3rd quarter.
Wearing Jersey #19 Sugaril and #20 Diaz from Fuddruckers were soon fouled out before the game finished and although one of MOD’s best defense #26 Leo was fouled out, the rest of the team made sure that they displayed some good shooting through #6 Orly, #12 Paolo and #3 Eric.
Fuddruckers acquired most of their baskets through #1 Banez, including a 3 point shot, failed to turn the tables on their opponents who went on to win by 66-54 points.
The Best Player of the Game award was given to MOD’s #41 Hershey who scored 11 points.

Anham vs Caporia
Despite being away from the courts for four weeks, newcomers Anham showed some real class when they scored a 16-point 91-75 victory over Caporia.
Wearing Jersey #8, Dirk Basco opened up the first quarter with two long shots that later earned him the Best Player of the Game award. He was backed by some of the points from #31 Bernard Pendon that resulted in Anham collecting 26 points in the quarter.
Meanwhile, Caporia managed to find a reply to those long shots through #4 Alfred Ceballos, with some points from Anham who finished the first quarter ahead by 7 points and the score 26-19.
Despite the 7-point lead, Anham refused to relax and regularly found the basket with back to back 3-point shots coming from #13 Mario Marcos and some good baskets from #21 Noy Garcera.

Caporia bounced back with three back to back long shots from #17 Oscar Tan and another 6 points from #25 Arnold Lumakian but their opponents was bursting with energy and stayed in the lead.
Caporia put together a good line of defense through #16 Arnold Lineses that provided an opportunity for #4 Alfredo Ceballos to pitch in another 3-point shot but their opponents were in no mood to slow down and pressed on the accelerator with fine shots from #31 Bernard Pendon, #19 Renante Mendoza and #13 Mario Marcos, who also hit a long shot.
Anham made sure that their supporters walked home with a happy face and ensured victory through some brilliant shooting from #4 Tom Klaquian and #13 Mario Marcos although from the other side of the bench #17 Oscar Tan scored 14 points, including two three-point shot, but all these efforts were not enough as the buzzer sounded with Anham ahead by 91-75 points.
In the games of the Inter-Company Conference the following is the standings of the teams which have played so far:

Standings
P W L
Shrimpy 2 2 -
Anham 2 2 -
MOD 3 2 1
Kuwait Energy 1 1 -
Al Tazaj 2 1 1
Alghanim 2 1 1
Toyota 2 1 1
Caporia 2 - 2
Fuddruckers 4 - 4
The following 11 teams are playing in the 5th Inter-Company Conference although only nine have seen action so far: Shrimpy Restaurant, Al Tazaj Restaurant, Fuddruckers Restaurant, Caporia Square, Baroue, MOD (Ministry of Defense), MOH (Ministry of Health), Alghanim, Toyota Al Sayer, Defending champions Kuwait Energy and Anham

Open Category
59ers vs Pinoy Kuwait
59ers achieved a 27-point victory over Pinoy Kuwait when they won 78-51 in the last game that took place Friday as the other two matches in this category saw winners by default as two of the teams failed to turn up for their matches.
This was the third straight win for 59ers in the three matches that they have played in this tournament and keeps them firmly on top of the standings with an unbeaten record while Pinoy Kuwait suffered their second defeat in three matches.
It was a slow start for both the teams but 59ers were in their best form when they managed to get a 6-point lead in the first quarter with the score after 16-10 getting a long shot from #16 Juvel Serdena and most points from #9 Sablan while from the other side of the courts #20 King drove in half of the points for Pinoy Kuwait.

59ers managed a big leap in the next quarter when they produced back to back baskets through #4 Daniel Tecling, #9 Sablan and #1 Johnny Alvior while Pinoy Kuwait appeared to be having trouble finding the hoops and managed to score mostly through the free throws converted by #10 Raian that resulted in 59ers opening the gap to 15 points with the score 34-19 in their favor by the end of the 1st half.
In spite of this huge lead, 59ers were never complacent at any point despite and saw the ball finding its way to the hoops through good shots from #6 Don Dwiggins, #14 Aries Mendaros and #9 Sablan.
Pinoy Kuwait managed to come up with two back to back 3-point shots from #27 Raffy and some points from #20 King but this was not enough to close the gap as 59ers were now leading by 28 points and the score 62-34 in favor of 59ers by the end of the 3rd quarter.

Pinoy Kuwait tried as hard as they could to come up with a game plan as they tried put up a tight defense through #14 Pascasio and also compiled a number of baskets through #20 King and #10 Raian but 59ers were in no mood to relax their grip and let their opponents get back into the match.
After having already having stamped their authority on the game, 59ers collected some outstanding back to back sbaskets from # 9 Sablan, #7 Marlon Maray and #22 Kenneth Santillan but Pinoy Kuwait managed to cut their lead by one point.
In spite of a tough fight from Pinoy Kuwait, 59ers still managed a 27-point 78-51 victory when the buzzer sounded to end their opponents misery.
Wearing Jersey #9 Sablan from 59ers, who contributed 26 points, was named Best Player of the Game.

Standings
P W L
59ers 3 3 -
Marina Volts 4 3 1
Tropaks 2 1 1
Pinoy Kuwait 3 1 2
South East 1 - 1
Desert Fox 3 - 3
Bench Tag - - -
Marina Volts, by virtue of the default win, are now enjoying a share of the lead with three wins and one defeat but they stay in second place as they have played one game more than 59ers.
FBL-BAP organizers would like to offer their special thanks to their major sponsor Mohamed Aba Zid — General Manager of Al Fuad Exchange.