JEDDAH: Pattaya Restaurant opened defense of the Open Rated A Division crown with a revamped lineup that included an import each from Riyadh and Dammam under new coaching staff.
As expected, Pattaya rolled to a 102-63 victory over Semacs in the headline match on Friday in the 3rd Filsama Basketball League Open Conference, at the Jeddah Sports Academy basketball court, Thalia corner Sitteen Street.
Another team to launch a title defense, WRJ Cargo-Carling Sportswear, in the Open C Division needed overtime to beat Maguindanao Overseas Group 87-83.
The defending champions struggled to get their first win as coach Rene Valle had to make adjustments on defense to neutralize the offense that MOG coach Johnny Iktab built around Yoyong Akmad.
The regulation period ended 74-74, as MOG’s Ibrahim missed four crucial free throws in the last 14 seconds.
In the five-minute extra period WRJ banked on its experience to take the measure of MOG, which had been handicapped by the fouling out of Akmad and his three turnovers.
Jollibee crushed MOHAP 75-40 in the first game in the Open Non Rated Division on Thursday to kick off the second weekend actions. Bantilan scored 26 points and Dollentas added 17 for Jollibee. X-Rulz used run-and-gun plays to telling effect and overhelmed Al Salam 75-51 in the second game in the All Muslim Division on Thursday. The leading scorers were Sajeel and Akimudden, the second conference most disciplined player, who each tallied 14 points.
Kim Ali, reputedly the star player of IDB Marantao, made an immediate impact with 26 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in IDB’s 68-65 victory over Solid South in the last game in the Open C Division on Thursday.
Another new player to watch was point guard E. Barbuena who teamed with Ali and had 10 points, 7 assists and 2 rebounds. Power forward Simon Asda added 16 points and 8 rebounds for Marantao. In a pair of Inter-Company Non Rated games on Friday, Modern Offset Printer beat Asas-Friendster 69-56 while Facebook downed Jeddah Kickers 54-37 in a low-scoring contest.
Jay-R Viesca scored 17 points and had 8 rebounds at the helm of a run-and-gun style of play worked out by Facebook offensive coach Ruben Villarosa.
Al-Karia defeated Sultan Kudarat 70-61 in Friday’s All Muslim Division game.
James Smith, from Riyadh, and Kim Calo, from Dammam, showed their value in their first game with Edwin Tullah’s Pattaya squad now handled by head coach Allen Ng and assistant coach Amang Catador.
Smith in full zest, scored 23 points and had 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots.
Wowing the crowd with his showtime moves, Calo finished with 18 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.
Ryan Aguam added 15points and Dindo Garces 10 as Pattaya broke the game wide open in the third quarter.
Ironically, Boy Corsega, the coach that gave Pattaya the title in the last conference, found himself on the opposite side of the bench.
Obviously, Semacs coach Cosega couldn’t do much against the talent and depth of his former team.
