Reboy rallies Boodai to hold off Virtuous 97-92 – Bad Bananas maul Kromozone, Cabalen outplay Volts as FKTC thrash EPC

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Boodai team
Boodai team

KUWAIT CITY, May 31: Tado Reboy scored in the final minutes and finished with 34 points to hand Boodai the five points win as the game went into overtime to close at 97-92 against Virtuous in the PBLK 6th season 5’8” division basketball conferences Friday afternoon at the Disabled Sports Club in Hawally.

Jeff Mabatid also added 11 points and 5 rebounds with Freddie adding 10 points, including a 3-pointer in the final round, as Boodai rallied midway in the game, holding off Virtuous to clinch the 5’8” divisional win. Virtuous’ Bong Aralar finished one-for-four in 3- pointers but wound up with a spectacular 6-for-8 in 2s to lead Virtuous in their first loss in three games.

Boodai kicked off their campaign with a cold shooting display and Virtuous, with an entire team coordinating effectively, raced to an early 10-8 lead in the opening minutes before ending the first quarter with an 18-12 advantage.

A suffocating defence, methodical offence coupled with an electrifying and raucous crowd, was mostly the winning formula for the Boodai squad side as they rallied to take control of the game after a lacklustre first half start that left them 10 point adrift, 35-25.

Boodai was jolted out of their inertia as Reboy led a third quarter rampage to gnaw down his side’s deficit. But Virtuous clamped down in an attempt to keep the forward scoreless in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but he fought his way out of their blocks, evaded them to snatch the lead for his side at the end of the third on a 24-13 run, finishing the round with a one point lead at 49-48.

The Boodai side, seeking to win the trophy in their first year of joining the conference, outshot their opponents by 47 percent to 45 from the field with their star forward Reboy being held to just fifteen points on four-of-10 shooting after running into foul trouble.

Reboy, MVP of the game at 34 points and Mabatid both ran into foul trouble early on but managed to stay in the game. But sharp-shooting forward Bernard Cabalido came off the bench and sparked a further Boodai revival as the Virtuous side went on a 29-28 run, led by Aralar who scored 8 points at the end of the fourth quarter to bring the game to a standoff at 77-77, sending the game into overtime.

A Mabatid three-pointer, his second of the game, saw Boodai take the lead again in the overtime period. But Virtuous stepped up their defence to regain control and with Tulai finding his range from beyond the arc; they clawed back some of their deficit in the opening minutes of the overtime, 79-81.

But Boodai appeared to tighten their grip on the game, Reboy scoring from behind the arc in a surprising move to widen his side’s lead, then again grabbed a steal off a poor Tulay pass to slot the ball into the Virtuous net to finish with a 5-point difference for Boodai at 97-92 at the buzzer. The deafening noise in the gallery persisted to the very last second of the game as the Boodai fans celebrated their side’s win.

In the other 5’8” matches of the weekend, Bad Bananas mauled Kromozone 90-26 while Cabalen also had an easy day outplaying Marina Volts 77-56 with the FKTC side thrashing EPC Buffalos 126-43 in the final game of the day.

By Iddris Seidu

Arab Times Staff

This news has been read 4142 times!

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