Carrier Juffali in rousing start in Friendi-WPBL

JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS

JEDDAH: Carrier Juffali, the new kid on the basketball block, lived up to the hype as one of the teams to watch when it brought down Shadow Lounge 84-75 in a strong match last Friday that capped another entertaining weekend for basketball fans in the 1st Friendi Basketball Tournament presented by all new WPBL at the Ahmed Khaki Sports Complex (Orca) court here.
Thursday, another set of Inter-Commercial Open Rated protagonists took to the court with Nunungan Lanao Lakers, led by Best Player of the game George Pascual (26 points), spoiling the debut of Thunderous Marogong with a 97-84 victory in their match. It was the second straight win for Nunungan.
The buzz in this side of basketball town was that Juffali has an Open Rated basketball team of players especially recruited from the Philippines.
Turns out the team is good as advertised.
Bringing along five busloads of supporters from its mother company, Carrier did not disappoint as it broke free from a back-and-forth game with a mighty push in the final quarter.
Shadow Lounge, led by the 1-2 punch of Ron Magat and Roby David, actually was in command for half the game and even led by as many as 12 points.
But for all the talent it has Shadow Lounge seemed to have a problem closing out games, and against Carrier was no different as the first game it lost against Nunungan.
Carrier’s Ubaldi with 22 points and Yutuc with 21 shared the Best Player accolade.
Responsible for Carrier’s participation in the tournament was Factory Manager and team adviser Ramon Soriano. The other Carrier team officials are team manager Glen Berdin, assistant team manager McJoel Nievra, head coach Elmer Goze, assistant coaches Marlon Aquino and Danny Gutierrez and adviser Joseleo Reparado.
Shakba Makkah, the eighth team in the Inter-Commercial Open Non-Rated C, won its first game against Nexus 79-71 in the fourth game Friday with Magelna as Best Player of the game.
Sponsor team Friendi Mobile rebounded from its previous defeat by crushing Saudia Jet Aviation 78-57 in the fourth game Thursday in the Inter-Commercial Open Non-Rated B.
Meantime, except for the game between CSSD and Nursing which the former won 75-57 in the second game Thursday some semblance of balanced competition was restored at the weekend in the KFAFH Inter-Department.
In the first game Thursday, AATC downed Engineering B Falcons 55-49 and HRD Tigers defeated Admin-Canon 93-88 in the third game.
Friday’s action saw Warehouse clip BME 74-61, Housekeeping A win and Dietary top Housekeeping B 82-74.