Babtain stays unbeaten; PappaRoti wins

Al Babtain Contracting Company and PappaRoti Café emerged top teams during last week’s action in the 3rd Commissioner Cup Invitational basketball tournament featuring Riyadh’s best players at the Zahid Tractor Gym in Nasseem on the outskirts of Riyadh.
In hotly contested matchup Henry A. Zoleta’s Al Babtain hammered out a 91-89 victory over Robert “Lance” Quiambao and Rodel Tanega’s Senator team.
The quick and aggressive style of Senators’ Jojo Custodio, who made the first 3-point shot of the game, Ankie Angeles, Jun Perez, Dru Vallejo and Tek Regidor bothered the Babtain boys in the early going.
The Senators used speed and quickness to compensate for their height disadvantage to be in the lead in each of the first three quarters at 24-20, 47-41 and 71-68.
In the final period, big men Roel Asay and James Smith played tough defense and with Sherwin Garcia, Jun Cortez and Paulo Malonzo Babtain taking charge offensively Babtain took the upper hand. With 18 seconds to play and the score 90-89 in favor of Babtain, Malonzo was fouled and guaranteed victory by converting one of his two free-throws 91-89.
PappaRoti got a lot of help from Alcasabas siblings Raymond and Romelle who scored 24 and 26 points to beat BMTC 107-80.
Ariel Dayandante, consistently completing fastbreaks, added 17 while John Howard Pantonia and John Paul Loreno made 17 and 10 points respectively as PappaRoti dominated the game.
Noel Domingo, Joemani Bambilla & Gerald Oliva’s BMTC cagers Eman Santos, Julius Pabuna, Jaime Hernandez, Roel Paule and Jerry Miranda tried to keep PappaRoti at bay in vain.
Tess P. Garcia is the league commissioner for three years now and is being supported by Tom Portuguez, Abel Dayrit, Alvin Sumayo, Jake Buban and game commentator Wahab Abu Yasser. The Filipino Confederation of Basketball Referees (FCBR) headed by Ernie Dela Cruz and Ed Tamayo is in charge of the tournament officiating.
Team standings: Al Babtain Company 2-0, Senators 1-1, PappaRoti Cafe 1-1, BMTC 0-2
The scores:
Al Babtain Contracting Company (91) S. Garcia 18, J. Smith 15, Roel Asay 15, J. Cortez 12, M. Villanueva 11, P. Malonzo 9, M. Mina 6, M. Bajamundi 3, S. Mohammad 2 Senators (89) J. Custodio 20, A. Angeles 20, J. Perez 11, J. Biala 11, T. Regidor 8, L. Chang 6, Richard Asay 6, E. Bautista 4, D. Vallejo 3.
PappaRoti Cafe (107) Raymond Alcasabas 26, Romelle Alcasabas 24, A. Dayandante 17, JH Pantonia 12, S. Reposar 10, JP Loreno 6, J. Akraman 4, DM Manuel 4, G. Balbuena 2, B. Bernabe 2 BMTC (80) E. Santos 23, J. Pabuna 16, J. Hernandez 13, R. Paule 12, J. Quizon 12, J. Miranda 4