Friendster scores double; Airnet, Euro Design, Sibuconians, Maharlikans win

JEDAH: After a successful opening, the second week action continued in the Filsama Basketball League 6th Invitational Open Tournament with Friendster’s Non Rated Division team crossing the century mark in a cakewalk 110-52 victory over new entry Shamy Group.

Galzote and Capugan led the Friendster slaughter of Shamy with 21 and 12 points.

Shamy Group had Tan hitting the top tally of 16 points while Arnel “The Golden Hands” Balagtas made 6 points.

In the same Division, the veteran team of Airnet Maarej authored another rout against Saco World to the tune of 82-68.

Saco, a neophyte team in FBL had no match for the battle tested players of Airnet Maarej like Vinas and Herrero who made 19 and 15 points, respectively. Bawa and Docil led Saco with 13 points apiece.

In the Non-rated Division Group B, the Best Team in Uniform awardee Euro Design beat NFC Raven 66-57.

The match was just about even, but the skills of Duterte Diaz, Romero and Vergara, with 16 points, eventually gave their team an advantage in the running game of a contest. Jay “Totoy Bibo” Razal and Vista made 14 and 13 points for NFC Raven.

In the Inter Filipino Muslim Division, Sibuconians defeated Labangan Cotawato 96-90. It was a seesaw battle but in the end the Sibuconians’ running game, Millar Daham and the inside plays by Kim Ali, making 23 points and 21 points respectively, gave Sibuconians the upper hand as the clock wound down to zero.

Yoyong Akmad contributed 18 points and Elder Ibrahim made 17 points for Labangan Cotawato.

The 38 and above division game ended in a controversial yet convincing win for the Friendsters over the Salesforce.

With 24 seconds to play and Friendsters was leading by 2 points and in ball possession.

Barry Nader gambled to take another shot for Friendsters giving Salesforce opportunity for a final offensive, but the final buzzer sounded. Unmindful of the clock Salesforce went for the basket but after looking at the timer, it indicated .3 seconds remained after making the shot.

Both teams agreed to reset the time to 24 seconds with Friendster in possession. But this time Nader was wiser running down the clock before being fouled. He converted both free throws for final tally of 85 for Friendster and 81 for Salesforce, completing a weekend double for Cris Melebo’s Friendster.

Nader finished with 27 points for Firendster while Asperga and Gumbay each had 12 points. For Salesforce Abdullah made 24 points and Dipatuan 23.

In the Open Rated Division main game Maharlikans sent Ewaton to its second straight defeat with a 92-84 victory.

The Maharlikans of James Asis enjoyed a good shooting night with court general Julia and Adrian Bulacan scoring 14 and 13 points and Walid Kitab patrolling the paint with authority.

Ewaton even without two key players matched Maharlikans early in the game with Akmad and Abril Mabarit keeping the points coming. Also, Bryan Adaya made his move under the goal but he has to deal with Kitab to get his hard earned 13 points.

Filsama Basketball League games are played Thursdays and Fridays at NAI Juffali Compound.