JEDDAH, 18 July 2003 — Defending champion Hanco Maintenance of Edgar Ainza fought it hard with their bitter rivals Junastar Cargo of Jun Astilla but had to concede to the Cargomen in overtime in the 8th Seiko-16th FBA Basketball Tournament at Sheraton Compound Basketball Court.
Hanco lorded the game for the first 20 minutes for a 47-34 score in their favor. Junastar coach Boy Mangilin then reorganized his boys, asking them to shadow Hernandez and Batarao, who both missed a lot of baskets in the early part of the game. But in the resumption of the second part of the ballgame and with still a lot of time left, ace player Richie Estrada fouled thus leaving a weaker offensive for Hanco Maintenance cagers. The game was so tight that resulted to a score of 87-87 all at the end of the regulation period. In the overtime period, Coach Boy Mangilin employed a double team guard on Abril Mabarit that eventually reduced his scoring output to only 15 points in the second half including the overtime.
But the biggest contributory factor that led to the collapse of Hanco was the absence of Estrada, who fouled out earlier in the game.
In the other games last week: NAI-Juffali of Alex Vidal won their final game for the 3rd place over the Saudi ABV cagers led by Benjie Telebrico (90-81) with Alex Vudal, Malicsi, Arce and Rivero standing out.
In the other games, Finetool sealed their chance of challenging Al-Majal Service Master for the crown in Division A. WRJ Freight Forwarders of William R. Jao will meet Arab News dribblers led by Ian Jaramel and Boy Lucas in the Open Non-Rated Division, while Al-Majal Service Master of Ken Bautista will face Finetool S.A. led by Herman Mallari in the Inter-Company (Weak) Division.
The organizing committee of the tournament headed by Gil Manese, Hernan Huerto and Lito Martin expressed their thanks and appreciation to all the participating teams fro their contribution in making the tournament a great success.
They also thanked the generous sponsors of the event: Al-Hussaini & Co. (distributor of the world famous Seiko watches in Saudi Arabia) through the kindness of Abdul Rahman Al-Hussaini, Hussam S. Salahi and Muhammad Ali Taleb as the tournament principal sponsor. Samsung Electronics-UMG (Essam Abbas), Friesland Middle East (Rainbow Milk), Qatar Airways (Samir Carali), Metito Arabia Industries, ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel (Raffy Jison & Nonoy Velo), Giordano Fashions (M.A.K. Jeelani). Hempel Paints, Pepsi-Bugshan, WRJ Freight Forwarders (William R. Jao), Junastar Cargo Services (Jun Astilla), SkyFreight Forwarders (Emy De Guzman), CMS International (Bert Nulud), Nayong Pilipino (Abdulfattah Mogawan) and Sports World Tailoring.
Manese praised the officers and members of the group (Raymond Caleon, Jr., Rolando Santelices and Jef Migano (operations), Pol Antiporda, Benjie Asa, Mike Maulana, Edwin Tullah, Teng Aglialam, Osman Ismael, Ben Garcia, Mike Ali and Raffy Campiao) who devoted their time for the success of the tournament.
He announced that the awarding ceremony of the 8th Seiko-16th FBA Basketball Tournament together with the recently concluded 105th Independence Volleyball Tourney will be held at the Philippine Consulate grounds on July 25, 2003 from 7:00 a.m.
Officials from the Philippine Consulate, representatives of sponsoring companies, team managers and staff of participating teams, community leaders from KASAPI and other community sports, civic and professional organizations are expected to attend.
The 17th FBA Basketball Tournament meanwhile will be held at the Ittihad Sports Club in Jeddah from Aug. 22. Interested teams may call Gil Manese at 6686578 or 059794751, Hernan Huerto at 6855555 X 3500 or Lito Martin at 6636936 X 302.
