Tadlas & Fitness-First snap Papazaj’s 2 game win streak – Climbers outlast KFC as Body Building top Banta

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Fitness-First team
Fitness-First team

KUWAIT CITY, July 2: At the PBLK basketball conference games, Mark Tadlas scored 22 points for Fitness-First to snap Papazaj restaurant’s two- game winning streak, 77-61 in the inter-company sixth conference Friday at the Disabled Sports Club, Hawally.

Habibi also added 12 points and nine rebounds to the win. With Fitness leading by three in the early minutes of the first quarter, Tadlas pulled up for a 3-point attempt with still 5 minutes to play. The ball bounced off the rim, but Solacito was waiting for a tip-in that handed Fitness the commanding advantage to finish the first round 24-16. Barcelona, a point guard for Papazaj scored an impressive 17 points, along with six assists, as Papazaj made the most of their second quarter momentum with a 9-8 run attempting to wipe out Fitness’s early first quarter lead in the inter-company division series, but could only pull off a point. Antazo and Bebe added 14 and 12 points apiece to the Papazaj lost cause. Barcelona scored 7 of his 17 points in the final quarter even as Papazaj was under a barrage of shots from the opposition in the round.

Featuring for the second time in the conference, Tadlas connected on five of his six shot attempts in the second round as the Fitness squad managed to keep Papazaj at bay to end the quarter on a cumulative 32-25 score line.

Mark Gill for Fitness who finished with 12 points, 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 12 points despite making 2- of -8 in 3-pointers. Papazaj turned the ball over four times leading to 10 points for Fitness in the first half.

Barcelona and Antazo along with Bebe soon found themselves leading a swift Papazaj rally in the final half of the contest following a quick Fitness time-out. And as his teammates set up around the 3-point arc, Barcelona weaved his way through the well guarded Fitness defences repeatedly in the early moments of the third quarter, bringing his side to just two points adrift, 50-52 at the end of the third round.

The to and fro basket trips continued on both sides of the court with Fitness featuring more prominently on the score board to extend their lead. The final round saw a determined attempt by Barcelona and Alvaro to tip the scales on the opposition as the Papazaj duo strung the ball into the Fitness half of the court, igniting a melee in the process.

Barcelona got shoved to the floor as he was bound for a 2-pointer. He connected both shots from the resultant free throw to push Papazaj’s score inching up to 59-72. Papazaj’s Valentino and Renato joined the last minute rampage on Fitness defences but could hardly make any more headway as the coach had ordered a redeployment of all personnel to defend the 16-point advantage to the finish. Despite the determined last minute fight, Papazaj finally lost the game, 61-77 at the buzzer.

Meanwhile, in other inter-company division games of the day, Climbers, out-manoeuvring Kuwait Food Company (KFC) in all quarters of the game, finished 91-84. Simbol scored 27 points with Mindoro adding 23 to seal the win. Galang paced the KFC side with 19 whilst Javillo added 12 in the loss. KFC only attempted to ramp up their game in the third quarter with a 23-22 run, but that only proved to be a fluke, as climbers came back strongly to take the game to a 91-84 conclusion.

Also in the final game, Body Building continued their three game streak in the inter-company division with a 65-62 defeat of Banta. Body Building’s Tiomico scored 16 points with Masangkay adding 14. But it was Banta’s Tom who led all scorers in the game with a 20 point haul with Casalla adding 12 in the loss.

Arab Times Staff

 

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