Hyperians ease past Heisco; Pearl Clinic overcome Azkals – United C.O.E., Kuwait Gilas, Kuwait Steel outclass rivals

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KUWAIT CITY, Oct 13: Borj Alisbo banged in 49 points including 14 three pointers for the H.P.I. Hyperians to zoom past Heisco in the 4th conference of the ongoing PBLK basketball league at the Khaitan Sports Club Friday afternoon.

Bumagat also contributed 29 points to the win while Jaguar Rocreo knocked in 17. The Hyperians jumped into an early lead in the opening half on the backs of Rocreo and Bumagat who alternated in their barrages to script a 58-39 first half run.

The Heisco side was gripped by early jitters in the game, so the coach called a timeout strategy session as they fell behind 11-4 just three and a half minutes into the game. They struggled to settle down late in the second quarter while the game was still within reach.

Alisbo found his scoring boots early in the first round, simply blowing through open lanes to the basket repeatedly as his team mates set up around the 3-point line. Heisco’s options at that point were becoming limited.

 A Bumagat three-pointer, his second in the game, put the Hyperians 13 points clear four minutes into the third but Heisco stepped up their defense to regain control and, with Raymond Pacer finding his range from beyond the arc, entered the fourth with a reduced deficit, 99-90.

Heisco appeared to be warming into the game, Glean pouring in another three-pointer and then grabbing a steal off a poor Greg pass for a layup to claw back some of his team’s deficit.

But Alisbo hit back; an unbroken 4-0 run extending the H.P.I. lead to 112-92 before a spectacular Bumagat jumper, with less than four minutes left, brought the score line to 114-92. Pacer responded with a three-pointer of his own to nibble down the H.P.I lead with a minute left and H.P.I held on to stay alive with a 114-95 win.

Meanwhile, in the next 5’8” game, the Pearl Clinic overcame their first half inertia to dominate in the second half, beating Azkals 74-64.

Pearl Clinic, who had a poor start to their campaign, trailed two points at the close of the opening round, 21-19.

But a rally in the second ignited by Marvin Magbag saw them edge up to 19 points, even as they continued to be bombarded from the field by Azkals’ Arthur Rodriguez and his crew.

A 6-point fourth quarter play by Clinic’s Norman Lopez was followed by 12 more in the round, capped by a series of dunks down the stretch to put Clinic in the lead.

Magbag for Pearl Clinic got the final four points of the fourth quarter, making a pair of free throws after he was clobbered intentionally on a breakaway by Azkals’ De La Cruz, and then banking in a jumper that made it 74-64 to close the game in favor of Pearl Clinic.

Results of the rest of the games were: United C.O.E. 89 vs Kusina Grill 84; Kuwait Gilas 58 vs Elite 47; Kuwait Steel 89 vs Body Building 69.

By Iddris Seidu

Arab Times Staff

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