JEDDAH, 23 November — Veteran swingman Jong Rapada showed everyone that he is not yet over the hill as he presided in Fujitec’s 91-80 sidetracking of Zahid Tractor while Zuhair Fayez nipped Prince, 71-68, to remain unbeaten in three starts. Royal Blood massacred Saudi Diyar, 66-47, Toyota Camry collared Corolla, 77-69, KUDU Food masters subdued Al-Jomaih 63-52, Echo cued Al-Hekma 86-82, D’Strykers bowled SADAFCO 68-66 and Goody whirled Zagzoog 89-86.
Fujitec used a 20-12 opening quarter binge and a 46-32 halftime lead before settling down to almost even exchanges in the third and fourth to join idle Sharbatly (3-0) as the other remaining team unscathed in Group B intercompany.
Slowed down by a recurring knee injury prompting him to scale down to the bonafide intercompany league, Rapada hit two points and nil in the first and third quarters respectively but set on a swashbuckling second-quarter downpour of 22 points and a fourth-quarter tally of 13 as he led three other lift technicians in double figures: Alvaro (17), Poco (15) and Demetrio (10).
Zuhair Fayez saw their 38-28, halftime lead to trimmed to just a mere one-point, 56-55, entering the fourth quarter. Prince’s Isla drained three triples in the third period and his jersey number 3 compatriot exploding for 13 points but failed to wrest momentum as Zuhair’s Mercado shone hitting 8 points in the pivotal fourth out of his 18 markers made. Umlas added 16.
Likewise, KUDU sent Al-Jomaih reeling to the gutter with a 0-3 card as Garillo and Felias chalked up 17 and 15 points while only J. Torres carded double figure with 17 for the losers.
In another low scoring match, D’Strykers finally struck gold at the expense of SADAFCO banking on the last shot of Cervantes to win by just a basket 68-66.
Goody (Basamh Trading) paraded Hermie R. who responded with 27 points as he led a balanced offense for Erick Abrantes team. Centeno collected 20, Dela Vega 14, Tato and Ong scored 10 points apiece to score a very close triumph over Zagzoog appliances which went down to 0-3. In the ALJ interdivision games, Camry hitched on the nightlong brilliance of Leal topscoring with 29 points and compounding the woes of the Corollas further, which absorbed a stinging back-to-back setback despite the 18-point production of Corolla’s pointguard A. Perez while Toyota Echo kept abreast with the leaders as Edwin Gadingan continued to create ripples scoring 19 of his team’s 25 point in the first quarter.
