JEDDAH: Round one of a budding rivalry for supremacy between defending Open Rated Division champion Pattaya Restaurant and Rexona-Unilever ended in a resounding 123-98 victory for Unilever in the 3rd Filsama Invitational Basketball League at Jeddah Sports Academy court.
In a tense match before another banner Thursday crowd, both teams paraded players widely considered the cream of the crop in Filipino basketball in the Kingdom.
The coaching staff of Unilever, led by manager-head coach Leo Rivera, and including Indal, Entoman, Ali and Dichelan, spared no time, effort and cash to put together a powerhouse team featuring the likes of A-1 cagers A. De Castro, B. Rodriquez, E. Simpas and O. Asmad from Dammam, Penning and A. Vallejo from Riyadh and the Jeddah’s Alfad, Martinez, Dumalogdog, Asda, Uddin, Alturas, Abubakar, Entoman, Baloloy, and Mendoza. Rivera’s squad also included the fast rising rookie Kim-Kim Ali and ex-PBA J. Duallan, who, however, failed to make it for the game.
Coaches Amang Catador, Allen Ng and managers Edwin Tullah and J. Malit of Pattaya likewise went the extra mile to fly in high caliber players James Smith and J. Villanueva from Riyadh and Kim and Arnold Calo from Jubail. R. Aguam, Y. Akmad, J. Omo, A. Serrano, A. Mabarit, O. Sahagun, D. Garces, E. Sagala, A. Yusri , C. Melebo, D. Abbas,and B. Maulana are Pattaya’s local crew. There was high tension right at the start of the game, when the referee slapped the Unilever bench with a warning for too much complaining by Rivera over a double foul call on Sagala and Asda.
The committee was forced to stop the game and remind both teams to behave like true sportsmen for the benefit of the watching public.
Asmad led the Unilever onslaught with 33 points and De Castro added 26. Rodriguez likewise scored from every corner and had second chances for baskets with the offensive rebounding of Pening, Simpas and Martinez.
Kim’s magic did not work this time for Pattaya which suffered when Smith entered foul trouble in the final minute of the third quarter and Villanueva’s power in the paint proved no match for Unilever’s big men.
Smith, however, still managed to grab scoring honors for Pattaya with 26 points. There was no looking back aftr Unilever took control at the break.
In a Inter-Company Non-rated Group match, Cotabato handed Facebook its fist defeat 80 to 79.
It was a seesaw battle throughout the game and Cotabato preserved the win when Facebook’s Fernando failed to convert three chances at victory in the last 10 seconds of the game.
The Ibrahims of Cotabato combined for 50 points.
Tubaran Union ended its two-game losing streak in the All Muslim Division by beating Madalum 77-75.
The other Open Rated Division contest had Egypt Team crushing Shams 79-44.
The more experienced Egypt controlled the game all the way with Abdulrazek and Fawzi scoring 15 and 14 points.
IDB-Marantao, starring Asda with 24 points and Kim-Kim with 22, downed Al Zugbi 83-66 in a battle of the unbeatens in the Open Rated C Division. Marantao improved to 4-0 while Zugbi dropped to 2-1.
Jollibee, meantime, earned a twice to beat privilege in the quarterfinals after beating International Medical Center 75-55 for a 5-0 sweep in the Inter-Company |Group A.
RJ Dollentas top-scored for Jolibbee with 27 points.
In another lopsided Inter-Company Group B game, Asas Friendster overwhelmed La Parilla Bugshan 85-64, while Madalum Clevers rebounded from their loss against Tubaran Union by beating RJM Cargo Sibuko 77-67.
During the halftime break, Filsama, an association of Filipino salesmen and merchandisers, successfully conducted its “Benefit Raffle Draw” in which a Compaq Notebook, digital camera and cellphones were given away to the lucky winners. Proceeds of the raffle draw will benefit the Filsama members in need of health and financial assistance.
