Head Office, Madinah Road win 6th JAFC basketball openers

It’s full steam ahead for the 1st LBC-Liga Pinoy Basketball Tournament after the parallel opening last Friday of the 6th JAFC (Jameel Associates Fitness Club) Basketball Tournament at the Ahmad Khaki Sports Complex (Orca) basketball court on Tahlia Street.
This tournament within a tournament finally got going with defending champion ALJ Head Office beating Rehab-ACCL 69-52 to open its title defense.
Madinah Road brought down Lexus 52-43 in the other game of the opening twinbill that was preceded by an opening ceremony emceed by Jerry T. Lagrimas.
The event was graced by top executives of the Abdul Latif Jameel Group which bankrolled the tournament exclusively for the associates of ALJ that attracted 11 teams representing various company departments.
Families of associates also attended the fun-filled opening day.
According to Ibrahim Camelo, chair of JAFC, the event hopes to build camaraderie among ALJ associates through sports.
Participating teams are: ALJ Rehab, Head Office, JACS, Mega Centers (Al Jowahra, Al Safa and Jeddah), Forklift, Madina Road, Amir Sultan, NGFC, Lexus, IT Division and Al Khumrah.
Named best players of the game were Laurente who scored 18 points for Head Office and Pergis who had 16 points for Madinah Road.
Meantime, Red Sea Kings debuted in the Liga Pinoy tournament with an impressive 66-48 victory over BRF Sadia last Thursday. Barry Nader of Kings grabbed player of the game honors with 27 points.
Twitter Marogong rolled to its second straight victory, beating Al Majal 4 GS 95-90. The trio of burly Cervantes, Junaid and Nash delivered the telling blows for Marogong scoring 26, 24 and 24 points respectively.
Cervantes went on to claim best player honors.
For Majal Lagon and Alturas led the way with 28 and 17 points.
Spicing up week 3 of the tournament was an exhibition game last Thursday between Avengers, a Syrian select team, and King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital.
The Avengers won 86-72 with Jassumah leading all scorers with 26 points.
LBC Express Inc. is the major sponsor of the tournament. Bryan Javier, LBC-KSA marketing specialist, helped facilitate the sponsorship.
The minor sponsors are Toyota, Mobily Globe, CEO & X Perfume of Rannie Basanta, Samsung through Muhaid Osman, promotion and development manager, Alicafé and Dole of Multibrands Al Ghadeer Al Arabia of Sheikh Jamal.
The BRG (Basketball Referees Group) of Lito Dela Cruz is in charge of the tournament officiating.