DAMMAM, 23 November — For the second straight year, Eastern Province again dominated the All-Star Selection of Riyadh in the annual Inter-Regional Cage Challenge hosted by the prestigious Eastern Province Basketball League at the Al-Ettifaq Sports Club in Dammam.
Bannered by 2001 EPBL Open Conference champs, Sigma Paints, the Easterners never gave their opponents from the capital a taste of the lead right from the opening tip in scoring a lopsided 107-84 victory.
Most Valuable Player and Mythical Five member, Cirio Medel, scored 23 points in the first half and added 8 more in the final period to top all scorers with a whopping 31 points total. Last year’s MVP, Wene Datungputi, added 27 while Best Guard awardee, Felix Fernandez, chipped in 18 giving the Dammam-based paint giant its first-ever All-Filipino inter-regional crown.
"We’ve been waiting long and worked hard for this title. This will erase our last week’s debacle", said team manager Henry Domingo, referring to Sigma’s heartbreaking loss to Jubail’s AYTB in the just-concluded Advisor’s Cup finals where Sigma led by as much as 14 points with just over three minutes left only to lose the match in the final 3 seconds.
The avenging Paint Makers took the first finals seat after drubbing AYTB, 104-88, in the knockout round in this two-day tournament. In contrast, Riyadh needed to go through a needle’s eye before subduing the pesky National Pipe Company of Dhahran, 87-83, for the second finals slot.
Missing the fire and grit that helped them escape NPC’s upset ax, the banged up Riyadh cagers suffered a five-minute scoring drought in the second quarter when the tandem of Medel and Fernandez ignited a searing breakaway for a 54-37 cushion at the turn.
Credit also goes to Sigma’s defensive stop on Riyadh’s frontliners as they managed to limit the high-scoring Rod Ayson and Benedict Tirado to 5 points apiece.
"We watched them play against NPC enabling us to come up with a game plan to contain their two big men", said Sigma coach Ronnie Lequin about Ayson and Tirado.
Mythical Five member, Dave Gana, single-handedly tried to resurrect Riyadh’s offense with a 14-point explosion in the third period but Ramil Zarandin’s lynch-like defense on the high-flying All-Star limited the output of Riyadh’s main gunner to 6 markers in the fourth quarter.
Riyadh managed to cut down Sigma’s lead to 12, 91-79, when the veteran Eldon Alforque sank the second of his four treys in final canto as the balding cager waxed hot from the three-point region igniting a short rally. His efforts all went for naught, however, when Datungputi and Medel countered with a 14-2 blast, most of which came from the foul line.
"It’s a wake-up call for us", commented Alex Sanchez, Riyadh’s delegation head. "We should’ve come with full ammunition. The big change (caliber of players) in this region caught us by surprise. I should’ve listened to my younger brother’s advise before coming here", added Sanchez referring to warnings given by EPBL assistant commissioner Jun Sanchez. "I really thought he’s just teasing me".
Quarter scores: 23-17; 54-37; 75-59; 107-84.
