On the penultimate week of the Kingdom Dream Games 2013 basketball tournament last Friday, three championships were decided via knockout games with the best-of-three series opener for the centerpiece Premier League championship going to Bangus following its 88-83 victory over fancied NPC at the jampacked Al Nahda Sports Club here.

Hempel Paints brushed aside Vallorec Saudi Arabia 69-66 for the Inter-Company C title, RHM won the Inter-Company B crown by beating Al Rasha 84-63 while ACEC clinched the Open League Non-Rated A championship after an 85-72 triumph over FAEC Junior team.

The grueling 16 weeks tournament comes to a fitting climax today with three more championship knockout games and the second game of the Bangus-NPC series. It will Sigma Paints against Khobar Warriors for the Above 40 title, Issam Kabbani against Hyper Panda in Inter-Company A and Dammam All Star against STC in the Open League Non-Rated B.

All told seven category championships went up for grabs during the four months long competition organized by Filipino Arabian Basketball Association (FABA) under the leadership of Commissioner Abdul Aziz “Jawo” Dizon who announced yesterday the Kingdom Dream Games Part 2 will start Aug. 10.

The Bangus-NPC game was close and the third quarter ended 63-all.

A three-pointer by Vener Salamat, formerly of NU Bulldogs, following an inbound and a layup by Ralph Alfred Gali after an NPC turnover swung the game around for Bangus in the last 29 seconds when Melvin Mamaclay completed a fastbreak play to tie the score at 83.

After the Salamat three with 29 ticks left Edgar Bucalin blew a chance for NPC to score when he accidentally kicked the ball that led to a Gali basket on the other end.

Jesse Mapanao and Vener Salamat shared scoring honors for Bangus on 17 points, Gali tallied 14 and Cris Manalili had 12 markers.

NPC Coach Gil Rivera said the loss of his key man Ariel Layug was a big factor in his team’s defeat. We will be more focused and will prepare more for the Game 2, he said.

Franchise team manager & Western Region Sales Marketing Manager of Hempel Paints Ram Prasath was overjoyed with the victory. He said he never expect his team to bring the bacon because of the big deficit until the last minutes of the third quarter.

Meanwhile, in another championship match ACEC out smarted FAEC in a bruising battle. The tandem of Boggie Patinio and Angelo Baltazar were the two heroes of the game with Patinio chosen as the MVP in their division.

RHM lambasted Al Rasha in a one-sided affair. Angelo Cortez and Maximo Flores endeared themselves to the fans with their entertaining brand of basketball. Cortez was declared the MVP of their division.

Kingdom Dream Games 2013 is sponsored by Hempel Paints Saudi Arabia as golden sponsor, Land Bank of the Philippines silver sponsor, NCB Quickpay Remittance, Bangus Restaurant silver sponsor, Trans Saudi Travel and Tour Agency bronze sponsor, with Almarai, McDonald’s, and Aujan Soft Drinks as co-sponsors.

The scores:

Hempel Paints (69) Agaton 17, Caritativo 12, Tantay 9, Dizon 8, Pacallagan 5, Biado 2, Ravena 2

Vallorec Saudi Arabia (66) Silao 22, Suamen 13, Dela Vega 10, Delcano 6, Perez 6, Delcano 4, Akan 2.

ACEC (85) – Boggie Patenio 30, Angelo Baltazar 19, Eric Tanduyan 8, Dennis Bonilla 8, Givanni Jacaba 6, Nicofort David 5, Chris Yu, Zhaher Kurais 3

FAEC Junior (72) Gonzales 16, Jon Cayanan 13, Cannete 9, Arguilles 7, Mansoor 6, Baluyot 6, Michael 5, Bonifacio 2, Yadao 2

RHM (84) Cortez 23, Flores 22, Somera 16, Baluyot 11, Hernandez 10, Balingit 2

Al Rasha (63) Esmero 23, Saavedra 7, Macatangay 6, Villegas 4, Noblefrancia 4, Abad 3, Adrales 2, Besitan 2, Roldan 2

Bangus (88) Mapanao 17, Salamat 17, Gali 14, Manalili 12, Garcia 8, Fabula 5, Canlas 4, Tejada 4, Vergara 2, San Jose 2

NPC (83) Mamaclay 25, Sinco 15, Nabong 12, Ramesh 8, layug 6, Bagay 3, Razon 2