JEDDAH, 30 May 2003 — Now on its third week, the ongoing 8th Seiko-16th FBA Basketball Tournament continuously entices a huge crowd of basketball aficionados from all parts of the city of Jeddah during Thursdays and Fridays from 5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.. Al-Hussaini & Co. (Seiko) principally sponsors the tourney.

The three-month-long tournament is organized by the Filipino Basketball Association.

Last week games results are as follows: (Thursday Games) Finetool S.A. headed by Herman Mallari won convincingly over the host team Pepsi/Sheraton mentored by Raymond Caleon, Jr. and managed by Jun Abriz (95-86) in the opening game. Eufemiano, Tejada and Dagohoy top scored for Finetool while Buenaventura, Ebiza and Asperga played well with the losers. Dagohoy was named best player of the game.

Samsung Electronics (UMG) outscored their rivals Unilever (Dove) headed by Leo Rivera and Raffy Panilag (88-84) in the second game The duo of Jojo Indal & Mulong De Guzman were instrumental in the victory. Villegas, Castillo, Alfonso and Clemente gave their best but to no avail. Best player was Indal of Samsung.

Dynarabia Ltd. paid very dearly for their long absence in the league when they succumbed to the stronger team of Marawi Wizards. (72-58). It was the second win in three outings for the Wizards headed by Coach Mosama Gunting. Balindong and Dimaronsing headed their team to victory with good support coming from Soriano and Gunting. While Natad and Oliva stood out for Dynarabia. WRJ Cargo registered their third successive victory in the league when they won handily with the equally strong team of National Refrigerators (Talk N Text) of Gerry Acosta and Mahmood Protacio (85-70). The foursome combination of Pineda, Sunga, Prujo and Nalus of WRJ Cargo blended well in beating the National Refrigerators in spite of the good efforts of Jamahali, Egos and Rosales.

Saco for Hardware of Coach Rolly Bernales won by a hairline (68-67) over Al-Sakab team led by Dante Mehren and Mohammed Al-Amoudi. Sagun Gamal and Malaluan topscored for Saco for Hardware team while Cardinal and Coloyan playing hard for Al-Sakab. Sagun was named best player of the game and was given a discount coupon (40 percent) from Samsung AGM marketing Electronics Essam Abbas.

Gulfmaid team of Ali Hashim, Frand Reales and Renz Achacoso lost to Zuhair Fayez Partnership team led by Leo Perez and Iftiqar (88-71). Team Captain Abu Hasem of Gulfmaid promised to do better next time.

Eimar Arabia led by Wilson Maata, won for the second time at the expense of the winless Arab News team mentored by Boy Lucas (71-69). It was a painful lost for the Arab News cagers because in the last 60 seconds of the game, they were still leading by nine points but errors were successively committed by some of their players resulting in successful treys and twinners courtesy of Torres and Maata that put the score at 68-67 in favor of Arab News with only few ticks left. A costly error from the inbound play by Arab News player resulted to a turnover, this time in favor of Eimar Arabia. An inbound play ensued and a trey conversion of Jeff Liwag made the crowd happy and Eimar Arabia won yelling at the end of the game by only two points. Manguerra and Togonon did well for Arab News but to no avail.

In the last game between Junastar Cargo of Jun Astilla and Hanco Maintenance of Douglas Brown, the former won by five points (88-83). Junastar’s Batarao, Hernandez, Pakkie and Havana led their team to victory No. 2 in the elimination round.

FBA Officiating Group headed by Benjie Asa handled the officiating.