JEDDAH: After a break of five weeks the Jeddah Sports Academy basketball court on Thalia corner Sitteen Street throbbed back to life with the launch of the 3rd Filsama Basketball League Open Conference on Friday.
In the opening day games, Al Zugbi for Sports trounced Solid South 61-46 in the Open C Division, Dansalan downed Jamjoom Pharma 56-37 in the Open Non Rated Division and Sibuko earned the distinction as the first team to win a game in the newly introduced All Filipino Muslim Division, edging out Tubaran 62-61 in the nightcap.
A simple opening ceremony preceded the games with OWWA Welfare Officer Dr. Romualdo Quismundo as the chief guest.
Also in attendance were community leaders Juhari Usman of Kasapi Congress and Rudy Dianalan, who is running for a Senate seat in the May 2010 elections, and Mohamad Bayoumi, a good friend of the Filipino community and recipient of the Presidential Banaag Award.
Commissioner Abdulmoen “Teng” Laguialam delivered a speech and declared the tournament open during the ceremony that was highlighted by the traditional parade of teams. Willy Cartagena led the singing of the national anthem and Ustadz Haron Kawilan did the invocation.
Grabbing the trophies to go up for grabs at the start of the tournament were: Best Team in Uniforms — Jamjoom Pharma (Open Non Rated Division), Al Zugbi for Sports and IDB Marantao (Open C Division), Pagadian and Tubaran (All Filipino Muslim Division), Shams Club (Open Rated Division); Best Muse — Jamjoom Pharma (Open Non Rated Division), WRJ Cargo-Carling Sportswerar (Open C Division), Tubaran (All Filipino Muslim Division).
Eric Cartagena scored 22 points with 11 rebounds, Norman Huerto added 12 points and Dimaronsing 10 points and 15 rebounds as Al Zugbi overcame a slow start to score a lopsided victory.
Cartagena, named Best Player of the game, and Jun Tejada took charge of the Zugbi offense, mocking the 1-3-1 trapping defense of Solid South.
Head coach James Asis leads the Zugbi coaching staff with Ali Mahadi and Tedddy Soriano as assistant coaches. Ruben Villarosa is the team consultant.
Dansalan dominated from start to finish, receving 11 points and 8 rebounds from eventual Best Player of the game Junaid, 10 points and 10 assists from Macapundag and 10 points from Asnar.
In a thrilling finish Tubaran flubbed the chance to send the game into overtime when Aguam missed his second free throw with five seconds left. Tubaran was also hurt when if failed to make a basket in five attempts as time expired.
Makagila led Sibuko with 19 points. Abubakar had 10 points and 10 assists, the same numbers posted by Mamang, while Latif contributed 10 points for Sibuko.
Games today
5 p.m. — ASAS-Friendster vs. MOG 6:45 p.m. — Facebook vs. Jeddah Kickers 8:30 p.m. — Al Kharia vs. Sultan Kudarat 10:15 p.m. — IDB Marantao vs. Balo-I
