Abdul Aziz the hero as AMCROC edge Boodai – Yousef Power pummel EPC Buffalos

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KUWAIT CITY, June 9: Abdul Aziz led the way with 23 points as AMCROC rallied from behind in the opening quarter to record their second PBLK 5’8” division game win in the four- week old tournament with a narrow 62-59 victory on Friday afternoon against Boodai in the basketball conferences held in the Hawally Disabled Sports Club.

Abdul Aziz’s 23 points included three 3-pointers and six assists while Bituin contributed an impressive 17 points, as AMCROC made the most of their second half momentum to wipe out the Boodai’s early first quarter lead in the 5’8” division series. Arellano and Cedric added 11 and 8 points apiece to the AMCROC slate.

Jake Tado paced the Boodai loss with 19 points, eight rebounds and ten assists. He scored 9 of his 19 points in the final quarter even as the Boodai were under a barrage of shots from the opposition in the round. Featuring for the second time in the conference, Tado connected on five of his six shot attempts in the second round as the Boodai squad managed to keep AMCROC at bay to end the quarter on a cumulative 17-13 score line.

AMCROC’s Arellano drew first blood with a quick layup, and then followed up to finish the opening round with 8 points including four steals. He finished with a total of 11 points despite making 2- of -8 in 3-pointers. Boodai turned the ball over four times leading to 5 points for the AMCROC in the first half.

Cedric and Gozon for AMCROC along with Aranita soon found themselves leading a swift AMCROC rally in the final half of the contest following a quick AMCROC time-out. And as his teammates set up around the 3-point arc, Abdul Aziz weaved his way through the well guarded Boodai defences repeatedly in the early moments of the third quarter extending the crackdown into the final stretch, nibbling down the AMCROC deficit, as the Boodai squad began to recoil into a defensive posture to preserve their narrow three point lead, 59-56.

The to and fro basket trips continued on both sides of the court with the AMCROC featuring more prominently on the score board to stitch up their deficit coming only 1 point behind, 59-58 at the end of the third.

The final round saw a determined attempt by Abdul Aziz and Bituin to tip the scales on the opposition as the AMCROC duo strung the ball into the Boodai half of the court, igniting a melee in the process. Arallano got shoved to the floor as he was bound for a 2-pointer. He connected both shots from the resultant free throw to push AMCROC scores inching up to 60-59.

Tado and Carbelido joined the last minute rampage on the AMCROC defences but could hardly make any more headway as the latter’s coach had ordered a redeployment of all personnel to defend the 1-point advantage and just in the nick of time, Cedric slotted in a buzzer beating 2 pointer to make the scores 62-59 at the buzzer.

Meanwhile, in other 5’8” division and Inter-Company games of the day, Yousef’s 37 points including a whopping seven 3-pointers, helped Yousef Power pummel EPC Buffalos 113-79. Briones added 17 points to the Power 5’8” game win whilst Francis scored 26 points to pace the Buffalos in their loss. In the final inter-company game of the day, Saveco beat Brown Diamond 82-79.

Arab Times Staff

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