RIYADH, 29 March — Unicorn banked on the steel-nerved bowling wizard Jhing Sahagun to put the fire out of Schneider Electric in a one-sided match on the 17th week of the Marhaba bowlfest being played every Saturday at the FAL Bowling Center in Riyadh.
Sahagun, already with a zero handicap, led Unicorn with 188, 223, 211 & 163 in the 4-0 shutout win that installed Unicorn solidly at No. 2 behind the leaders Mavericks. Sahagun is currently the runaway No. 1 bowler in the Elite Top 50 with an average of 186.26 in 46 games, followed at distant second by Benjie Presto (179.63) of Tsamba Konnection.
Meanwhile, Dante Prado of the famed Alley Bang Bang, stamped his class once again after some silence to claim the Bowler of the Week award, thus giving Alley Bang Bang a big boost in their hunt for the major awards. ABB are currently at No. 4 behind Unicorn and the Hunks as the tourney sponsored by Marhaba Phonecard near the end of the final round-robin. Prado seared the lanes with 199, 168, 203 & 226 as Alley Bang Bang of Rolly Manalang traded bowling punches with Rod Basilio’s Hunks in a tight 2-2 draw. Prado, with a handicap of 2 and currently at No. 3 in the Top 50 Bowlers, beat Sahagun in the BOW battle with his 804 against Sahagun’s 785. But Sahagun enjoys a big edge over Prado in the battle for the MVP.
Unicorn of captain WillieTermulo decisively beat Schneider Electric of Marvin Arocena in the opener via a 930-792 coming from Jose Concepcion’s 211.
From there, Sahagun took charge as Unicorn swept the last 3 games with 916-828, 973-863 & 915-816, gaining 120 bonus points along the way. At the final tally, Unicorn had a total output of 320 points including 200 winpoints from the 4 games to claim the Team of the Week citation.
Al Humaidi Trading of Jesse Gutierrez registered the next best output of 230 (200 + 30) as they had the luck of winning 4 straight games over the Sarawat Strikers who did not show up that day.
Unicorn’s Jhing Sahagun and Joe Concepcion also got support from the superb games of Efren Abuyo, Rene Dimapilis, Julian Corro, Dennis Albano and Saud Egil as they swept Schneider in the flawless shutout. Concepcion was top scorer with 801 in 4 games on account of his 9 handicap followed by Sahagun (785) and Efren Abuyo (738) also in 4 games. With the loss, Schneider Electric settled to No. 9 (out of 12 teams).
Johnny Bungay scored best for his team with 718, followed by Marvin Arocena (714) and Cas Encila (706), all 3 of them playing 4 games in their losing battle. Ed Calzo and Justine Lawas completed the lineup.
The No. 4 Alley Bang Bang tried to pin down the No. 3 Hunks but all they got was a 2-2 decision and even lost on bonus points for a total tally of 160-130 in favor of the Hunks. Prado was assisted by JR Bagon, Rolly Manalang, Edwin Guano, Richard Oczon and Arnold Jesena. The determined Hunks who won the games 2 & 4 led by Rod Basilio ( 697) and Dave Pare (643). Romy Matic did a dazzling show with 630 only in 3 games spiced up with 209 & 203 scratch games. Joe Mari de Luna, Arnold Bellen and Totie Dapo were the backup. The championship-bound Mavericks of Ben Carriaga meanwhile raised their insurmountable lead to 601 over Unicorn after getting 160 from a 2-2 match with the fighting McDonald of Toffee San Jose. Fred Tejado and Mon Nilo shone for the Mavericks in that match while Rizal Dollosa carried the fight for McDonald. On the following week, Week No. 18 of the Marhaba bowlfest, the tough contender Hunks of Rod Basilio claimed another Team of the Week award in their checkered campaign and they are now closing in on the major awards at No. 3.
