KUWAIT CITY, Feb 5: Chronos’ Jayson Santillan was the man to watch as he led his side with a scintillating performance to a nail-biting 84-78 finish against Batee-Design as the 27th PABAK/Natasha Basketball tournament continued Friday at the Hawally Disabled Sports Club. Caporia restaurant beat Global Ilocano to register their first win in five games in the league so far.
After two successive wins, Chronos Mills boosted their title hopes further with the addition of Batee-Design to their growing list of casualties with their dangerous trio James Carilo, Jayson Santillan and Jayson Manalo leading the offense, while the rest of their teammates did their share of the defensive chores. The multi-faceted consulting giants did not give the Batee Design scorers much wiggle room to do much damage beyond the second quarter scoring spree they went on after several miscues by Chronos defense, in registering the win as usual in the Non-Leaguers Division encounter.

Santillan topped all scorers with 34 markers while Carillo made 18 and Manalo added 12 for the consultants. Nino Canlas and Roy Mangallanus tallied 29 and 17 points each in the losing effort for the Batee Design squad. Despite the recent surge in momentum, having won four games out of six still leaves Chronos wallowing in sixth position on the Non-Leaguers league table.
The results of the rest of the day’s games were as follows:
Destroyer 105 vs Bneid Al-Gar 46; Gemini Cargo 69 vs Calorie Control 49; Toyota Al-Sayer 61 vs Electrozan 52; Al-Sabah Collection 80 vs The Knights 74; Corpro 77 vs Jade Garden 76; Fil-Am 79 vs Jade Garden 70; Natasha Gelato 74 vs Berksmen 70; Chronos Mills 84 vs Batee Design 78; Caporia 84 vs Global Ilocano 77.

The second Non-Leaguers clash of the day saw the Destroyer squad and Bneid Al-Gar lock horns with Tom Kalaquian, Bernard Aninoy, Martin Vidal, Nilo Sunthunder and Rico Anthony combining to lead the Destroyer squad to their second and easy win in five meetings over the outnumbered and outgunned Bneid Al-Gar squad. Kalaquian and Vidal shot 39 and 28 markers each in the Destroyer win, while #17 Gerry and #2 Bondad shot 12 and 10 markers apiece to pace the Bneid Al-Gar’s loss.
In game three the Gemini Global Cargo squad took advantage of a first quarter lackluster play by Calorie Control to hand the latter a painful loss in the Non-Leaguer group meeting with a spirited play combining balanced scoring and tough defense. Gemini Cargo’s trio of Jonas Espritu, Gilbert Arogones and Norman Lopez turned in double digit outputs of 12, 11 and 10 points respectively in leading the obesity busters to a win over the cargo services providers in the third match of the day. Gerry Punzalan and Robert De La Cruz paced the Calorie Conrol with 13 and 10 markers in their loss.

Meanwhile, Toyota Al-Sayer who lost their game at the hands of Buffalo Café last week, took no chances thi time around against the Electrozan squad despite the latter dominating a good part of the game and ending the first quarter with a one-point advantage. Ronald Sotero, Bobit Cavali and Choy Mico finished in double figures in leading the Toyota boys to the narrow 61-52 win with 16, 13 and 10 points each. Dexter De La Cruz and Marvin Feravil shot 14 and 11 markers apiece in support of Electrozan’s losing cause.
Learning from mistakes resulting in their stunning and first defeat in the league last week at the hands of Batee Design, the Al-Sabah Collection squad mobilized their ace players like Arthur Pamatmat, Lito De Guzman and Freddie Cruz to take care of the unpredictable Knights squad, with Pamatmat, Jojo Gonzaga and Mark Mariano providing enough scoring sock to do the job in the fifth Non-Leaguers Division encounter. Wily point guard De Guzman delivered 24 points while orchestrating play, with Mariano and Pamatmat adding 18 apiece in the Al-Sabah victory. Dodong Lumbajong led The Knights in the loss with 21 points while Julfre Miles chipped in 18. The win still leaves Al-Sabah anchored in second position below Club-X.

Corpro’s point guard Mark Tadlas was red hot, scorching the hoops for 23 markers while Ferdie Cortez added 18 besides taking care of caroms in the Corpro triumph over the dangerous Jade Garden restaurateurs’ squad in their meeting in the first Open Division game of the day. Jeff Espadero and Ronald Labatos tallied 20 and 16 points each in a losing effort for Jade Garden restaurant. Corpro thus share the top spot of the group with Fil-Am with that result.
The exhausted Jade Garden restaurateurs suffered a second defeat of the day at the hands of Fil-Am in the second game of the open group after putting up a heroic performance. By adding the scalp of the formidable but inconsistent Jade Garden squad to their growing collection of victims, Fil-Am’s record stands at four wins in five meetings. Fil-Am’s 79-70 victory came courtesy double figure performances of Norman Rustia and Cris Ingal who shot 21and 20 points apiece while also providing the defensive bulwark. Jervel Teves and Aries Mendaros paced the beaten Jade Garden squad with 19 and 15 points apiece.

Natasha’s Bernard Carino, once one of the most feared shooters in the local Filipino hoop league and has yet to see his numbers rise above single digits, finally broke out of a slump, finishing in double figures with 22 points to lead his side to a 74-70 victory in a balanced scoring attack in Open Division game three against the Berksmen squad. Allan Mendiola, Jayson Santillan, Mel Yap and Bernard Carino added 18, 12, 9 and 8 points apiece. Marlon Bautista and Marvin Sumague scored 19 and 14 points respectively for the defeated Berksmen squad.
The Caporia restaurant squad made sure to get their act together in the closing stages of the game against Global Ilocano, keeping their poise despite the spirited fight back of the dangerous Ilocano squad in the last encounter of the day. The restaurateurs were forced to dig deep to withstand the pressure relying on the trio of Leo Reyes, Cesar Serano and Vince Vidal who shot 27, 15 and 12 to carry them past the never-say-die Ilocano boys in the 84-77 win. Paul Andrade, Joey West and Joey Salamantin provided able support, scoring 8, 6 and 5 markers each with the rest of their teammates doing the rest. Freddie Eugenio shot 19 and Alvin Apalin 18 points in The Global Ilocano losing cause.
Below are the team standings in the various divisions:

Open:
P W L
Corpro 5 4 1
FIL-AM 5 4 1
Batee Design 4 2 2
Natasha AF Gelato 5 2 3
Caporia 5 1 4
Jade Garden Rest 3 0 3
Berksmen 4 0 4
Inter-Company:
P W L
O S N 4 3 1
KEO 4 2 2
Toyota Al-Sayer 3 2 1
Kuwait Steel 3 2 1
Electrozan 4 0 4
Non-Leaguers:
P W L
Club-X 5 5 0
Al-Sabah Collection 7 6 1
Knights 5 4 1
Gemini Cargo 4 3 1
Buffalo Café 4 3 1
Chronos Mills 6 4 2
Destroyer 5 2 3
Calorie Control 4 1 3
Global Ilocano 6 1 5
Voice Center 2 0 2
Flipside 2 0 2
Bneid Al-Gar 5 0 5
The PABAK/Natasha 27th Conference Tournament under the able management of Rod Cerezo and his team of officials is made possible by the kind sponsorship of Natasha Express Cargo, Kabayan Corner, Orbit-Showtime Network (OSN), UAE Exchange and Mais Alghanim Restaurant.