NAS Warriors seal 71-56 victory over KEO
Star Power dominate Elite; KEC, Hyperians surge
KUWAIT CITY, June 29: Nino Yumul banged in the last two-pointer to seal the 71-56 victory for the National Aviation Services (NAS) Warriors against KEO Bruno Friday afternoon as the PBLK fourth conference matches roll on at the Khaitan Sports Club.
Yumul contributed 29 points to the win while Archie De Quina knocked in 17. NAS jumped into an early lead in the opening half on the backs of Yumul and Hammond who alternated in the barrages to script a 39-18 first half run.
KEO was gripped by early game jitters despite their coach calling a timeout 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.
Yumul 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. KEO didn’t have an answer at that point. The wily point guard maxed up a gamehigh 29 points with Dequina adding added 17 and six rebounds to the tally.
A Valencia three-pointer, his second in the game, put NAS 4 points clear four minutes into the third but KEO stepped up their defense to regain control and, with Edmar Sumande finding his range from beyond the arc, entered the fourth with a reduced deficit, 64-42. KEO appeared to be warming into the game, Sumade pouring in another three-pointer and then grabbing a steal off a poor Dequina pass for a slam dunk to claw back some of his team’s deficit.
But Alvin hit back; an unbroken 72 run extending NAS lead to 62-55 before a spectacular Yumul jumper, with less than four minutes left, brought the score line to 71-55. Sumade responded with a three- pointer of his own to nibble down NAS lead with 2 minutes left and NAS held on to stay alive with a 7156 win.
Meanwhile, in the next 5’8” game, Star Power dominated all rounds to beat Elite 72-56. Elite, who had a poor start to their campaign, trailed with a zero point at the close of the opening round, 28-0. But a rally in the second ignited by Domingo saw them edge up to 19 points, even as they continued to be bombarded from the field by Star Power’s Escobido and his crew.
A 6-point fourth quarter play by Elite’s Catubig was followed by 12 more in the round, capped by a series of dunks down the stretch to nibble down the Star Power lead.
Dennis for Star Power got the final four points of the fourth quarter, making a pair of free throws after he was clobbered intentionally on a break- away by Elite’s Flores, and then banking in a jumper that made it 72-56 to close the game in favor of Star Power.
Results of the rest of the games were: Kuwait Energy Company 76 vs AlYasra 69; HPI Hyperians 91 vs Banta 69; Kuwait Steel 74 vs Heisco 63; COC Boiz 81 vs Boiz Avenue 79.