Friendster nails double championship; Juffali forces decider

In a big week for Cris Melebo’s teams under the Friendster label two championships were won at the weekend both with a sweep of the best-of-three series in the Filsama Basketball League 7th Conference at the NAI Juffali Compound court in Bawadi District here.
First to fall in the lap of Friendster was the Inter-Color when Friendster White defeated President Red 106-88 in the third game Thursday. Last week, White won the first game of the title playoffs by 89-87.
The Friendster Non-Rated Division team then guaranteed a double championship for Melebo with, well, hopes of a triple championship after his Open Rated players beat Shadow Lounge 108-98 Friday night to level the playoffs at 1-1.
Unlike the Inter-Color Friendster’s Non-Rated squad did not have the luxury of a week’s rest but to its credit closed out the series against Arabian Homes in convincing fashion, winning the first game 102-90 Thursday and the second 98-84 on Friday.
In the game Friday Friendster clamped down on prolific Arabian Homes pair of Efren Fuentes and Destreza, limiting them to only 7 and 9 points respectively in a defensive effort that canceled out the 22 points from Moymoy Bantillan and 17 from Gino Cilot.
Carbonel, Barry Nader and Jayjay led Friendster with 20, 19 and 14 points.
Besides the Open Rated the Inter-Company Bonafide series also went the distance after Juffali downed Danube 79-66 in a highly physical game Friday. Danube won the series opener 97-91 Thursday.
Francis Magat’s Shadow Lounge, coached by Boy “Digital” Corsega, survived a virtual one-man show (36 points) by Fil-Am James Smith to score a 99-92 victory over Friendster in the first game of the Open Rated championship series on Thursday.
Yutuc scored 22 points, Ryan Aguam tallied 19 while beanpole Ubalde and Roby David added 18 and 14 as Shadow Lounge won in a thrilling game before a big crowd at Juffali court.
Friendster was without one of its key players Christian Guimpatan who suffered a knee injury last week.
Shadow Lounge was going for the clincher the following night but instead got a dampener in its bid for a first championship in Filsama-organized tournaments when it lost the game and Ubalde, who sprained his ankle while accidentally tripping on a foot of another player with only three minutes gone in the first quarter.
Ubalde was sidelined for the rest of the game and though his absence was a welcome break Friendster did play well as a team. Smith top-scored with 19 points followed by JR Pedra 18 points, Leo Tablante and Diego Domalogdog 16 apiece and Yoyong Akmad 14.
Yutuc paced Shadow with 24 points, Ron Magat added 17, Matias 10 and David, wowing the crowd with his up-and-under drives to the basket, finished with 15 points.
Organizers held the awarding ceremony for the two divisions that concluded with FBL Commissioner Abdulmoen “Teng” Laguialam and Filsama consultant-adviser Mohamed Bayoum handing out the awards.
Named to the Inter-Color mythical five selection were J. Cobre and Allan Yousof (Best Guards), F. Radiamoda and A. Radiamoda (Best Forwards) and Cris Melebo (Best Center). Yousuf was the MVP and Amang Catador Best Coach.
Mythical five (Non Rated Division) — J. Juma-os and E. J. Destreza (Best Gaurds), B. Nader and G. Cilot (Best Forwards), Melebo (Best Center), Nader MVP, Catador Best Coach.
Also, for the first time in the FBL MVP of the Conference was awarded in each of the four divisions as follows: Glenn Manalili (Al Tazaj) Non-Rated, Nanding Unas (Fuddruckers S@H) Inter-Company Bonafide, Boy Raras (Filsama Black) Inter-Color and Adrian Bulacan (Wasalak) Open Rated.