JEDDAH, 1 November — Samsung team led by Melchor Lawigan won by a big margin over their rivals Unilever S.A. (Comfort) of coach Erwin Calso (88-58) at the ongoing 7th Seiko Basketball Tournament at the COCG Basketball Court, Industrial Area in Jeddah.

The foursome combination of Lawigan, de Guzman, Capulong and San Pedro went rampaging from the start of the game and finished the first twenty minutes ahead of Comfort team by a big margin of twenty points (45-25) and ended adding another ten points at the signal of the end buzzer. Calso and Al Shehab also did well for the detergent team. This tournament is principally sponsored by Seiko (Al-Hussaini & Co.) headed by Abdul Rahman Al-Hussaini (president), Hussam S. Salahi (sales & marketing manager) and Muhammad Ali Taleb (import department).

Other companies supporting the event are Giordano Fashions (M.A.K. Jeelani), TFC — The Filipino Channel), Fine Food & Pastries (Sunbullah), Coca-Cola, Modern Dairies (Cortina), COCG — Cooperative Office For Cal and Guidance, SkyFreight Forwarders, CMS International and Sports World Tailoring of Gil Manese. Organized by the Filipino Basketball Association (FBA), the tournament will run until early December this year with FBA president Gil Manese, Rebrando Hernandez (Commissioner) and Goody Viajedor running the show.

Meanwhile, the following is the result of the other ballgames last week: Masat Al-Sharq Co., of coach Julius and ass’t coach Omeng Sahagun out played their strong rivals Napeco Company under team manager Roger Casillano (84-71). Egos and Azarcon made 18 points apiece to lead their team to victory.

Good support came from Comandante and Ambos to bring home their 3rd straight win in a row. The triumvirate of Soria, Serrano and Dela Pena tried hard to win the game but to no avail. MTTS of coach J. Del Rosario posted their second win when they beat Unilever (Vaseline) team of coach Albert (85-72) through the incessant effort of Tipon and Santos who both converted 36 points apiece. Bolina, Bantayan and Martin also did well. Ditchella, Calso, Alayon and Villanueva played good for Vaseline team but to no avail.

Al Qahtani Co. also posted their third win in a row by beating Nepro Company (84-76). Quintana & Lut were instrumental in the victory of Al-Qahtani Co. The fouresome combined effort of Dela Cruz, Alquiza, Reyes and Allayban was not sufficient to overtake the lead of Al-Qahtan Co and Nepro Company lost in the game. The fast playing team of Arabian Gulf won their other assignment and still clinging to get one of the slots in the magic four after the elimination.

Hidalgo, Valdez and Mercado played exceptionally well in the game to beat Arifco Company (86-68) in a lopsided match. Agustin and Alparito gave their best but Arabian Gulf proved to be the stronger and luckier team. In the final game between Jeddah Slashers and Saudi Hi-Tech, the former won over the latter (94-85) a crowd of more than one thousand people patiently watched the Open Rated B players play their game. It was Saudi Hi-Tech taking the commanding lead in the first ten minutes of play when they led to as much as ten points but only to lost at the end of the first half (34-38) in favor of Jeddah Slashers.

At the resumption of the game in the second half, the game again came into a ding-dong battle but hot tempers and emotional outburst from players of both bench broke the momentum of both teams but in the end, the boys of coach Juanito Magalang still prevailed.

The final score was 94-85 in favor of Jeddah Slashers. Officiating was handled by the FBA officiating group headed by Jing Abalos and Benjie Asa. Meanwhile, the 1st Samsung (UMG) Basketball Tournament will take off on Nov. 1 at the Sheraton Compound Basketball Court in Jeddah from 5 p.m.