JEDDAH: Forget about the Jeddah All Star. In Jeddah, at least, it’s the Mindanao Selection who rules the roost.
The All Star, bannered by players who stayed back while the rest traveled to the Eastern Province for another exhibition tournament, was out at the first hurdle, beaten 75-69 by Solid North on Thursday.
Mindanao Selection did its part by beating RJM Cargo 90-78 later in the day to seal a winner-take-all battle against Solid North.
Madmad Martinez grabbed a crucial defensive rebound after Solid North missed a potentially game-tying basket with 9 seconds left as Mindanao Selection won the final match 89-86 on Friday.
The Mindanao Selection victory in the WPBL Haj 2008 exhibition games sponsored by Western Union underscored its growing reputation as a team that can compete with the best.
In 2006, another Mindanao side showed up Jeddah All Star to win a similar exhibition event organized by the Western Province Basketball League.
Martinez was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the two-day tournament at Ahmed Kaki Sport Complex (Orca) court here. Martinez topscored with 20 points in the first game where he drew support from Kim Aguam with 17 points, Caddu Alfad and Nanding Unas each with 13 points and Yoyong Akmad with 6 points.
In coach Leo Rivera’s Mindanao Selection’s second game Alfad was the leading scorer with 22 points that went with 16 from Aguam, 10 from Martinez, 9 from Saiden Amir and 7 from Akmad.
For Solid North, coached by Tony Sobrepeña, it was Earl Mañalac who played outstanding basketball with 19 points. Ostonal made 17 points, Dick Quibin 16, Pablo Viscayno had 13 and Aaron Mayo added 8 points.
To the crowd’s delight the two finalists dished out an entertaining display but the Mindanao cagers simply were the better team on the night.
Coached by Juanito Magalang, Filsama-Jeddah All Star defeated RJM Cargo, handled by Amang Catador, Ruben dela Rosa and Jag Malit, 86-78 in the knockout game for third place. Mark Lagria led the All Star with 21 points followed by Adrian Bulacan with 16, Dindo Garces with 12, Eric Mabarit with 8 and Eric Sagala with 7 points.
The awards ceremony followed the final game with visiting Mike Midtimbang, a board member of Maguindanao province, as chief guest. The tournament was organized by WPBL in cooperation with Filsama led by its president Abdulmoen Laguialam, and sponsored by Western Union through Lowell Plamares. The co-sponsors are Sami Alkathiri Trading Co. through GM Sami Alkathiri and Zaldy Mohammad and Jun Mansour Mejia.
In a pair of knockout quarterfinal matches in the Developmental Division, Modern Offset Printer edged out D’ Barkads 76-74 and Friendster defeated Yanbu Dream Team 114-110. Helping WPBL Chairman Rams Gunao run the show are committee members Don Sindayen, commissioner; Abedin Gunao, technical committee head; Esmail Mike Aliudin, finance manager; and Manny Ulak, secretary. Hamdan Alharity and Omar “Jomar” Baganian are the advisers with Mohammad Bayoumi, a good friend of the Filipino community in Jeddah, as adviser/consultant.
Meantime, Gunao announced the WPBL 10th Conference will start March 13 with four divisions namely Skilled, Developmental, Inter-Company and Inter-Maguindanao. Teams that make early full payment of registration will be given discounts of as high as 10 per cent, according to Gunao.
