All-star hand Nuggets first defeat
Mathar down First Kuwaiti as Kuwait Steel outplay DHL
KUWAIT CITY, Feb 26: AllStar shook off a first round scare from NuggetsAmericana and controlled the inter-company game from the second quarter to finish 69-63, handing the food specialists their first defeat in the league over the Kuwait National Day weekend at the ongoing 9th Conference Al-Ektasad United Exchange Company/Philippines Basketball Club in Kuwait (PHILBACK) tournament in Riggae.
All-Star kicked off their campaign with a slight numerical advantage over Nuggets-Americana in the opening encounter but the latter hit the hard court running with danger man Padiron wreaking havoc on the opposition defenses with some dazzling runs, sending his side coasting to open a 7-point lead, 20-13 at the turn of the first round. Padiron garnered 6 in the opening round with Captain Alesna and Costales taking care of the rest to close the round in style.
Seeing the direction of the game, the seemingly sluggish All-Star squad, mobilized to tighten the screws in their defenses while getting more aggressive in offense with Simbol and Javillo taking the lead in offense, exploiting the air-tight holes in the opposition defenses to get their side’s scorecard racing fast.
Simbol and Javillo assisted by Kyung who later got walked off the court on his fifth foul, schemed to zero out Americana’s first round advantage to take their side to a 5-point lead at the half time mark, 39-34.
Americana’s rally in the third round could only get the food specialists inching four points closer, just one point shy of their 5-point deficit, but a strong comeback by All-Stars scripted by Javillo, put the Americana team under pressure in the final minutes. Americana couldn’t manage to get back seriously into the fray to challenge the All-Stars momentum till they got bailed out by the buzzer at 69-63.
Simbol finished at 20, assisted by Javillo’s 16 in the All-Star win while Paderon scored a game-high 21 markers with Alesna following closely behind with 19 to pace Americana, first and surprising loss.
Mathar on the other hand slighted First Kuwaiti 67-59 in the next intercompany game. Hamoud opened scoring for Mathar with a 2-pointer, opening the way for Andy Buco and Angelo to make their contributions to the Mathar fight. Allan Casallas and Sampong were the spears in the First Kuwaiti fight that saw their side briefly take the lead in the first quarter, 16-13. As the First Kuwaiti flame slowly extinguished in the second quarter, Mathar stepped up their game to fill the void, Hamoud and Buco taking the lead and scoring at will while directing affairs to lead their side in the rest of the game to a 67-59 at the sound of the buzzer. Hamoud scored 20 while Buco added 15 in the Mathar win.
Meanwhile, Kuwait-Steel clearly outplayed DHL in the third game, finishing in style at 84-57 in what generally appeared to be a lop-sided affair with Kuwait-Steel in command throughout the game. The teeming crowd got a respite in the day’s contests as this game saw the Kuwait-Steel squad wear down the underequipped DHL squad to post a comfortable win over the latter, Castro dominating the shaded lane and hitting in 18 while De La Cruz, Villanueva and Bacucanag alternated from the perimeter scoring 17, 10 and 6 baskets apiece. Ramancio, DHL’s talisman player scored a game-high 24 and was assisted by Pamatmat’s 14 points in their side’s loss.
The next Derby vs. Blue-Thunder 5’8” division match was another exciting clash that kept fans’ adrenalin spiking as the two sides took turns in dominating the game with Matimtim and Dumangan leading Derby to a 34-31 halftime glory. The Derby lead however was short-lived as Alagao, Oaing and Sison led Thunder in attack to turn the tables from the third quarter, ending the quarter 2 points ahead at 35-33.
Both teams fought tooth and nail in the last quarter, but Derby’s aggressive skills and strong defense made the difference, coupled with Thunder’s main defense player Quinol’s four fouls committed which slowed him down a bit as he feared his usual robust defensive tactics could earn him a fifth foul which could send him marching off the court. Both teams fought hard to the end with Derby maintaining their momentum to finish 64-57 in their favor.
Another nail-biter was in the offing when Expat Pinoy outpaced Al-Tazaj in another 5’8” division game, 65-58. Both sides alternated in their leads of the rounds with Pinoy surging to a 1311 first round lead, Baldevarona at the business end of the surge, scoring 7. The second round belonged to AlTazaj, 29-25 with Trinidad and Cruz leading the effort. But as the fight got tough both sides fought hard with Pinoy managing to end the third round one point ahead at 41-40. Baldevarona with 24 points led the Pinoys to a final score of 65-58.
Elsewhere, NADEC went down to Dallgers, 42-53 in a low-scoring game. Rey and Ocampo were the stars of the Dallgers victory, bombarding the opposition hoop with 14 and 10 points while Tuazon contributed 6. Barrera and Paraguiton finished 9 apiece in the NADEC loss.
Also in court one, Kuwait Flour Mills (KFM) managed to snap CGCSuns’ winning streak with a 63-56 defeat in the fifth game of the day. KFM were ahead in all rounds of the game, 20-10, 31-25, 45-34 and 63-56. Dimalanta scored 22 in the KFM effort with Tacmo and Ajivillo finishing at 17 and 12 to pace the Suns’ loss.
The next match saw Jaguar, Rene and Julius partner to demolish KTC 5547, scoring 19, 8 and 6 points in the JCNets’ effort. The trio led the JC-Net in both defense and offense while also orchestrating play to lead the tailors to the upset win. The KTC side also had their heroes in Devera and James who paced their side with 13 and 10 markers in the loss.
In the rest of the weekend’s games, EMS outpaced Tropang-Shaab 65-36 in a low scoring match while PSK-Ruls managed to win against JIL 63-45 in the inter-medical group.
Sadeer on the other hand lost convincingly to Nayong-Pilipino 67-81 in the final game of the day with Catabay and Alvin leading their side to the win scoring 18 apiece. Sadeer’s heroic loss was also paced by Bamba and Boyet who hit 18 and 12 apiece.