Aquasan hold off Bahay Kubo 79-64 – Tigers overpower Marina Volts in a thrilling encounter
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KUWAIT CITY, Sept 27: Aquasan survived Bahay Kubo’s last ditch rally to finish with a pulsating 79-64 victory in game one on Friday at theK above 40s basketball conferences played at the Sultan Centre Sports Complex in Hawally.
Ace guard Thomas contributed a game-high 24 points, along with six assists, as the Plumbing hardware specialists made the most of their massive fan-base to assert their control of the game to the finish despite a ferocious challenge from the opposition.
Marvin also had 16 points and Manny 14 in the Aquasan win. Marvin scored six of his 16 points in the final quarter as Aquasan cracked down and rallied in the final round for the game one win. Playing in his first season1 game, Diony connected on five of his six shot attempts in the second round as the Aquasan squad kept Kubo at bay to end the first quarter 25-7.
Rey kicked off his campaign for Bahay Kubo with an 8 point haul in the first half including four steals. The point guard finished with a total of 21 points despite making 2- of -12 in 3-pointers. Bahay Kubo turned the ball over 11 times resulting in 19 Aquasan points in the first half. Top – seed Kubo made a tactical change to their game following a double timeout in the third round. Roy and Rey soon found themselves leading the Kubo charge in the final half.
As his teammates set up around the 3-point arc, Rey simply blew through open lanes to the basket repeatedly in the early moments of the third, gnawing down his side’s deficit as the game moved into the final stretch.
The to and fro basket trips continued on both sides of the court to the end with Aquasan comfortably in the driver’s seat. Victor’s last minute re-entry into the game saw Aquasan again pick up momentum in the face of heavy bombardment from the Kubo side but time wouldn’t allow them to fully stitch up their wide deficit which stood at 15 points, 79-64 as the clock counted down to zero at the buzzer.
“This was a good game that went according to plan. All guys played their part very well and we’re all pleased and proud that we won this crucial game, we are looking up to our next game, ready for any team that comes our way”, said the Aquasan captain Marvin after the game.
Meanwhile, top-seed Tigers managed to overpower Marina Volts 88-73 in another fiercely contested 5’8” division duel in the second game. Balderama, Benson and Mariano led the Tigers attacks to script the win. Balderama made 28, Benson 18 and Mariano 11.
Pascual and Theng both scored 17 points apiece to pace Volts in their valiant loss. Volts in the initial moments of the first round rushed to open up a 5-point lead, 21-16 scripted by Pascual and James. Basmayor drew first blood for Tigers with a layup and went ahead to score 6 more vital points including a 2-pointer 10 minutes into the opening round. But it was Lorenzo who hit two 3s in a span of just over 4 minutes late in the opening half for Tigers to put his side at par, 16-16 at the halftime break, which still left Volts leading by 5 points totally.
The second half saw Tigers push up their game a notch as Theng, MVP of the game, single handedly took on the opposition defense, scoring eight points in the early moments of the third to key a game-changing 18-10 surge early in the quarter then followed up with another 2 points to send Tigers ahead by two points, 46-44 at the turn of the round.
He also grabbed two of his team-high four steals during the spurt, finishing the third with a court-long dash and two-handed dunk to put Tigers further up 78-61 midway into the fourth round as the Tigers assumed control of the game. But in the final stretch, Marina Volts clamped down on the Tigers defense in an attempt to restore their advantage. And Volts last minute turnovers sank them deeper into deficit, enabling Tigers to finish in style at 88-73.
By Iddris Seidu
Arab Times Staff
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