RIYADH: The Interbank Basketball League of Riyadh entered second round eliminations last week at the Yamama Hotel court here.

SABB blasted Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB) 97-77 in the first game last Wednesday. Top scoring for SABB were Dante Ramones with 26 points, Lino Fernandez with 21 points, Peter Merquita with 16 points and a team high 16 rebounds and newly fielded point guard extraordinaire Ronald Asuncion with 15 points. Half time score was 62 — 32 which SAIB managed to cut in the second half behind the steady scoring of Jonas Moreto with 23 markers. He was assisted by another newcomer Eyad Abdul Baqi with 14 points and 15 rebounds, Faisal Attalah with 13 points plus 15 rebounds and Sherwin Frago contributing 12 points. Both Ramones and Merquita were chosen as co-Best Players of the Game.

In the day’s second game, Alinma got back at Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) with a 73-63 victory. Top scoring for Alinma was big man Sameer Adam with 30 points and 22 rebounds. He was joined by Ronald Rivera with 16 points, Julius Alfonso with 11 points and Ebrahim Mohamad 9 points. Alinma held the lead 34 – 21 at halftime. Alinma controlled the boards 54 to 33 rebounds to maintain the lead in the second half. For BSF, Ivan Marcelino top-scored with 36 points and supported by Anthony Villanueva and Darwin Padilla with 6 points each. Best Player of the game was Alinma’s Sameer Adam.

On Day 7 of the tournament Friday, two key matches were played. In the first game, Alinma took sweet revenge on SABB 77-72 thanks to Adam’s 28 points and 23 rebounds. Also helping out were Ebrahim Mohamad with 12 points, Johnrey Lorena with 11 points and Jerry Barce with 7 points. Alinma held a 10 point spread at halftime 62-52 which it held until the last few minutes of the game. Defensive specialist Vince Mangawang went out with a recurring injury allowing SABB to score six straight points to cut the lead down to two. Adam came to the rescue to restore Alinma’s lead back to five. Leading the charge for SABB was Peter Merquita (21 points and 15 rebounds) with Lino Fernandez adding 20 points. Also contributing were Ron Alega with 14 points and 14 rebounds, Ronald Asuncion with 9 points and Dante Ramones 8 points. Adam was the Best Player of the game for the third consecutive time.

In the last game, ANB repeated over BSF 81-67. Gab Gabitanan led all scorers with 22 points, spitfire Ezbon Lobaton added 20 points, sweet shooting Egay Borromeo had 16 points and three-point shooter Richard Castillo tossed in 10 points before being carried out after a bad fall. BSF failed to close the gap as Marcelino had an off game but still poured in 15 points. Leading scorer for BSF was Jozel Labinghisa who drilled in 22 points. Half time score was 36-23 in favor of ANB. Best Player of the game was Gab Gabitanan for his second straight award. Standings at the end of the Day 7 are: SABB (4-2), Alinma (4-2), ANB (3-2), BSF (3-3), and SAIB (0-5).