KUWAIT CITY, Aug 3: Wonder Boy (Papa Johns Pizza) and MSS-Kuwait emerged victorious to lift the Inter-Company and 5’10”&under crowns respectively in Friday’s finals of the FPBL/Western Union 6th Conference Basketball Tournament co-sponsored by Toyo Tires at the Fahaheel Sports Club gym in Mangaf. Wonder Boy staged a remarkable comeback after almost being given up for lost to deny Kuwait Finest (Abj-Kharafi) a Cinderella finish in winning the Inter-Company title on its second season.
Kuwait Finest, with its well-balanced team took the early initiative on Diosdado Rafanan’s two free throw conversions when Jerry Masangkay earlier missed an easy lay-up after Wonder Boy won the opening tip-off. This was followed by hits from Mariel Basalo, Ramonette Amor, Joey Lorilla and Chito Primero leading to a 19-16 first quarter lead and it was the same story in the second quarter with Basalo, Amor and Primero taking turns at scoring in which Kuwait Finest erected a 37-29 first half advantage.

Wonder Boy seemed to be floundering as they struggled in offense-particularly, from the 15-ft line where they missed a good percentage of their free throws thus allowing their opponent to gain momentum but for the yeoman-like efforts of Jerry Masangkay who, almost single-handed, fought to keep his team in the game. With Amor hitting treys almost at will along with outstanding plays by Basalo, Rafanan, Primero and Chris Abba, Kuwait Finest kept up the pressure and padded their lead to double digits until midway in the fourth quarter as Wonder Boy continued to struggle. All seemed lost for the black-garbed Wonder Boy squad until Anthony Capulong began to assert himself, finally realising his ceiling advantage to score back-to-back jumpers from top of the key that helped set off a rally which saw them steadily chip away at Kuwait Finest’ lead.

Six straight points by Masangkay - four of them from the stripe - saw Wonder Boy draw level 55-all and then took over the driver’s seat 57-55 for the first time and momentum further swung in their favor when Oscar Tan buried a trey and then followed this with a split charity and another field goal to stretch their lead 63-57.  After seeing their seemingly insurmountable lead dissipate and finding themselves trailing, Kuwait Finest’ once well-organized game plan began to unravel and their once impeccable shooting deserted them. After a lengthy spell, Basalo and James Racoma finally scored to narrow the gap 61-63 only to see Wonder Boy score five straight points on Ricky Daluz and Tan’s charity conversions before the buzzer ended their agony. Wonder Boy won the game virtually from the 15-ft line as they found their shooting touch at just the right moment.

But the biggest reason for Wonder Boy’s triumph was the never-say-die attitude of Jerry Masangkay who played his guts out despite the odds to inspire his team-mates. Masangkay scored a game-high 22 markers, a lot of them on daredevil drives to the basket, while Oscar Tan added 19, Ricky Daluz 10 and Anthony Capulong 8 points. It was a disappointing loss for the Kuwait Finest (Abj-Kharafi) squad who would have made history with a Cinderella finish had they won on their first outing in the league. Pacing Kuwait Finest in the loss were Ramonette Amor 16, Mariel Basalo 15, Joey Lorilla 9 and Diosdado Rafanan 7 points. MSS-Kuwait, on the other hand, kept its unbeaten streak intact in winning the 5’10”&under title.

A notoriously slow starter, the orange jersey MSS-Kuwait squad trailed Mark Ali -spearheaded by Dante Pagdanganan, Jigoy Evangelista and Mac2 Mariano - for most of the game: 22-18 in the first quarter, 45-37 at the half and 61-58 after three quarters before making their move in the fourth and final period of the game. Norman Rustia set things in motion when he buried a triple to knot the count which was followed by a Kenneth Najera jumper and Rustia again with a trey that saw MSS-Kuwait’s vaunted end game kick into gear. Though Mark Ali tried to stop the inevitable from happening, the writing was already on the wall, and all they could do was keep within sight of the orange jerseys as the latter went on to win 92-86 at the buzzer.

Rustia unloaded 28 with Najera adding 26 and Erwin Bartolome 13 for the rampant MSS-Kuwait orange jerseys. Dante Pagdanganan tallied 23, Jigoy Evangelista 15 and Mac2 Mariano 14 for the losing Mark Ali squad. The crowd witnessed a shootout between Joe Casuga of the MoD sentinels and Karl Jefferson Lopez of First Kuwait Trading Co. (FKTC) in the two team’s battle for third in the Inter-Company group. The two players carried the scoring cudgels for their respective teams with Casuga and the MoD sentinels emerging 80-70 winners over Lopez and his FKTC team, with Casuga outscoring Lopez 32-31. But despite his efforts, Casuga could not have won the game by himself if not for the solid support of his team-mates who contributed their bit to their team’s winning tally like: Cris Santos with 9, Marlon Delos Reyes 8, Mike David 8, De Leon 6, Junick Eguita 6, Jojo Matildo 4, Mario Tapallas 3, Jess Arceta 3 and Jimbo Gervacio 1 point.

Aside from Lopez, other FKTC scorers were: Wareen Fortunato 19, Isagani Leyson 5, Francis Ryan Patiu 5, Alfred Balagot 4 and Jun Labunog 3 points. Mario’s Restaurant beat the Ryan Vallega-less Fil-Am Eagles 88-75 in their game two meeting for third spot in the 5’10&under category.

The two squads even-steven, ending the first quarter deadlocked at 19-all and 36-all at halftime with Marlou Bautista, Ryan Asuncion, Gil Dizon and Manuel Palaspas trading points with the eagles’ Paul Silvestre, Rudy Yap and Jess Balagot. Employing a balanced attack and tightening up on defense, the restaurateurs started to pull away in the third quarter on Marlou Bautista’s cunning inside plays while Asuncion and Palaspas delivered from the perimeter and Dizon, with his streaking lane drives, adding to the tally.

Bautista led a three-prong attack in the closing stages of the game with Asuncion, and Dizon en route to a convincing 88-75 win at the buzzer. Bautista led four restaurateurs in double figures with his 32 markers while Asuncion shot 19, Dizon 14 and Palaspas 11. Ruben Bretana added 4 points to the team’s winning tally.
Paul Silvestre paced the Fil-Am Eagles with 26 points. Rudy Yap added 21, Jess Balagot 10, Bryan Julio 7 and Gerald Minsalan 6.
Ms. Marinel Labastida of tournament sponsor Western Union handed out the prizes to the winners in the awards ceremony held after the final game between MSS-Kuwait and Mark Ali.

The winners:
5’10”&under category: MSS-Kuwait - Champion; Mark Ali - First Runner-up; Mario’s Restaurant - Second Runner-up; and Fil-Am Eagles - Third Runner-up.
Members of the Mythical Five (5’10” &under): Marlou Bautista (Mario’s Restaurant); Mac2 Mariano (Mark Ali); Erwin Bartolome (MSS-Kuwait); Paul Silvestre (Fil-Am Eagles); and Dante Pagdanganan (Mark Ali).
Finals MVP: Kenneth Najera of MSS-Kuwait.
Inter-Company category: Wonder Boy (Papa Johns Pizza) - Champion; Kuwait Finest - First Runner-up; Ministry of Defense - Second Runner-up; First Kuwait Trading Co. - Third Runner-up.
Members of the Mythical Five: Anthony Capulong (Wonder Boy); Joe Casuga (MoD); Karl Jefferson Lopez (FKTC); Mariel Basalo and Joey Lorilla (Kuwait Finest).
Finals MVP: Jerry Masangkay ( Wonder Boy).

By Boie Conrad Dublin
Arab Times Staff