E. A. Juffali & Bros. and Danube Himalaya will contest the Inter-Company Bonafide championship in a best-of-three series following victories against their rivals at the close of eliminations at the weekend in the Filsama Basketball League 7th Conference at the NAI Juffali Compound court in Bawadi District here.
Juffali needed only the services of its second liners to bring down Makati Foods 101-92 in the first game Thursday.
Nonoy Dones scored 26 points, Torres added 19 and Reyes had 13 as Juffali closed out the eliminations with a leading record of 6-1. After an opening day loss against Makati Foods Juffali was never beaten in the next six games.
The result left the next game a knockout for the second final berth between Danube Himalaya and Fuddruckers S@H although the latter needed to win by 12 points or better to get ahead in the tiebreak goal average. Danube went to the match with a 4-2 record and Fuddruckers 4-3.
When the dust settled, Danube won by 115-105.
Fuddruckers took a 56-52 lead at the turn but that was just about it as the deadly trio of Destreza, Gino Cilot and Fuentes, who had a combined output of 91 points, went into overdrive, hustling in defense and scoring almost at will to put Danube on top at the end of the third quarter 86-82.
In the fourth quarter Fuddruckers, which drew 25 points from Nanding Unas and 23 from Rebulado, had trouble penetrating the defense of Danube.
Juffali and Danube faced off last night at the start of the championship series. The second game is set for today at 7 p.m.
Four championships actually were on tap last night including Friendster-Arabian Homes in Non-Rated Division, Friendster White vs. President Red (Game 2) in Inter-Color and Shadow Lounge against Friendster in Open Rated.
The teams then return to the court today for Game 2, with a decider, if necessary, to be played next week.
In a thrilling opener to the Inter-Color best-of-three, White Friendster edged out Red President 89-87 in the third game last Thursday.
White of Cris Melebo and Rene Valle found Arnold Atienza’s Red squad surprisingly tough to beat despite having only six players from the start of the game to the end of the third quarter.
White was in control for much of the game but the gritty Red dug in and tied the score at 81 with two minutes left to play. A pair of free-throws by Jameel Cobre and a layup by Nanding Unas tied the score again at 85, 58 ticks left.
White went up by 88-85 when Ali Radiomoda of Red went for a three but missed. He, however, grabbed the rebound and scored a putback for 88-87, time down to two seconds. After Balagtas received the White inbound pass he was immediately fouled to stop the clock. Balagtas then converted the first three throw and deliberately missed the second, the ball bouncing off the rim and everyone battling for the rebound when the buzzer ended.
Cobre finished the night with 16 points, Asperga had 14 and Yousof 12 for White.
