JEDDAH, 18 January — Now at the semifinal stage, it’s back to square one for all the teams left to battle it out. All of four semifinalists in the three-division in the 8th Abdul Latif Jameel Invitational Basketball Tournament will figure in a single round-robin affair with the emergent top two advancing to the best-of-three championship series.
Goody-Basahm Trading pummeled all their rivals in Group A inter-company, but that is not an assurance that they will have the decided advantage in the next round. Al Naghi-Bentley’s Tea, Al-Mabani and Sadafco are all raring to go for the jugular and the strength of all the teams are just about even. The decisive factor that will make the big difference is for a single team to make sure that they have a complete line-up for all the important battles that lay ahead.
In Group B, Fujitec and Sharbatly led the elimination stage but late surge by Royal Blood and the ability of KUDU Food masters to steal an important victory when the odds are stacked against them only propels the fact that it’s gonna be a war of attrition in that division.
There are nagging questions that remain bothersome in the minds of basketball aficionados who have devotedly followed the development of the games in the tourney. Foremost is, does Fujitec suffer the inexplicable humiliation at the hands of the food masters ending the elimination round?
Or did the referees really got into the nerves of the Fujitec coaching staff and their star player who where eventually thrown out of the ball game by the JSO technical committee? Or somebody somewhere fouled things up? In that game Jong Rapada put on the usual numbers, thirty points. Nothing wrong with that, but, where was the usual support of the "Three Musketeers" Alvaro, Poco and Demetrio in that particular game?
In nearly all their previous outings, these three provided extra firepower to Fujitec’s burning offense, complementing Rapada’s as they normally chip in double figures. However, nothing matters more important now but the games up ahead. And, if any controversy still persists, the two week-long hiatus brought about by a faulty electrical circuitry at ALJ due to the year-ending heavy downpour provided the balm to soothe the issue.
In the ALJ inter-division, Al-Hekma’s entry into the semifinals is a tribute to the fact that the young ones are now able to give their older and more seasoned rivals a run for their money. Toyota Camry, Toyota Echo and Toyota Century are the other three teams whose "young once" line-up of cagers will be the hurdles to the championship aspiration of the high school boys of Al-Hekma. The thrilling part of it is that basing from their elimination round skirmishes, all games had been closely fought and the team that makes the proper adjustment and take to heart the lesson of their previous defeats will gain headway.
Aside from Jong Rapada, there is a stellar attraction provided by the likes of Bentley’s Tea spark plugs Aaron Mayo and Nap Solis. Al-Mabani has the awesome tandem of Edwin Gadingan and Jason Villanueva while Sadafco touts Abdullah and prolific playmaker Nonoy Guarra.
Goody parades the irrepressible Ronald Centeno and the pesky-as-a-fly John Tato while Sharbatly has sweet-shooting Penaflor and Abe Tacuboy, Royal Blood roll their luck on Rolloda and KUDU fills Felias as the major ace up their sleeves. These are all key men who will likely decide the fortune of their respective teams.
