JEDDAH, 19 April — ITCO got an impressive 43-point output from six-foot seven playing coach Elser while enjoying plenty of help offensively and defensively from the youthful Ramsey as they chalked up an upset win over Army Team (Al Garbeya), 79-73. Green Farms-Luna and Fruto-Danube teams held on to their winning ways in the 2nd Arrow Marketing Invitational Basketball tournament simultaneously held at Ittihad and Al-Ahli gyms.
ITCO, a rag-tag team from the American International School beefed up by Elser and point guard Haberkorn made sure that a victory over top seed Army Team was imminent with Elser dominating inside. They were earlier victims of heart-breaking losses: a one-point overtime loss against Alvin Bautista and Mila Saballe’s King Faisal Specialist Hospital, 80-81, and a frustrating end game fold-up against Swatch Watch. Ramsey scored 12 points for team manager Jamal Sinno of ITCO and effectively silenced the guns of Ali Sanhani, limiting him to only 5 points while Haberkorn and Sinno combined for 19 points for the winners. Abu Safia who hit four treys racked up 23 while Rehan and Morki had 21 and 11 points respectively for the losers.
In other games, Luna-Green Farms brushed aside Sawary-BiC, 83-78, Fruto-Danube edged Saudi British Bank, 70-68.
Aru Abe of coach Boni Paule and team manager Bert Nulud (Calsons) is one of the stellar attractions of the tournament where it garnered three wins against one loss in its campaign in the top of the line open-rated division. This division is a gathering of the cream of the crop of Jeddah’s cagers representing a wide spectrum of multinational players, not just exclusively Filipinos.
One of the strongest arrays of Pinoy stars, Aru Abe is lumped with a Cabalen flavor where the potent backcourt duo of Darwin Domingo and Ronald Battarao is a familiar fixture at the rear. Six footers Roger Pineda, Elmer Esguerra and Wilson Naluz provide the ceiling and the likes of A.J. Marcelino, Gary Santos, J. Naguit and Huerto sprinkle the wings.
SEICO (Saudi Electric Industries Co.) with the Mabarit brothers Abril and Jun on the forefront of an UMEA-BFI composite squad boasts of Dindo Garces, Rey Buhat, Leo Almoite, Ric Belarmino, Eric Torres, Ric Belarmino and Anthony Fuentebella. In the lone game they played thus far, team manager Amirah Ali and coach Trox Olsem whipped the Army Team 95-87 in OT. Garces collected 29 points in that victory, Abril Mabarit canned 15 points three others Belarmino, Almoite and Jun Mabarit hit double figures 13, 12 and 12, respectively.
The open-rated division is actually a battleground to separate the men from the boys, a threshing out of the real contenders from the pretenders in big time basketball. Initially, King Faisal Specialist Hospital-KODAK was installed as a difficult team to beat in the abrogated inter-hospital division but having elevated quite reluctantly (on KFSH’s part) by the organizers into the rated division, the team has been confounded with three losses and a solitary win to show.
