In a battle for top spot in the Bracket A Non Rated Division, OBS proved the more determined, as they overpowered Marogong 87-78 in the OFBL Friday Morning Games 4th Conference at Timeout Sports Academy Stadium on Television St., Ghulail District on the outskirts of Jeddah last Friday.

Behind by four to Marogong after the first half 31-35, OBS made an offensive run to take the lead and finished the 3rd quarter with 4-point advantage.

With a good read of the game, OBS Coach Alvin Leal, focused on their defensive prowess in the 4th quarter that caught Marogong flatfooted, as they constantly executed trapping defense and challenged the enemy shots aggressively, producing turnovers, fastbreak points and steals courtesy of Sipat and several block shots from their center Edison, to further extend their lead to as much as 16 points in the middle of the payoff period.

With a 12-point advantage going to the last two minutes, OBS worked the clock but didn’t relax on defense to make any chance impossible for Marogong.

Sipat had an impressive performance top-scoring for OBS with 26 points and was adjudged as the Jollibee Best Player of the game. He was helped out offensively by Yang who hit 19 points and Historillo with 14. Edison Once had a significant role defensively punishing their opponents with 5 blocks and grabbing a total of 15 rebounds in the game. Amores led the losing team with 21 points, Mateo added 14 p and Vallejo 11.

With the win OBS improved to 4-1 in the team standings.

Roxonin thrashed Aramex 65-48 to gain solo 1st place at 4-1 in Friday Morning Non Rated Bracket B. The trio of Sumikiab, Timson and Abella effectively upheld Roxonin’s capability scoring 16 , 13 and 11 points respectively. Ocatia had 14 points for the losing team.

Meanwhile, in the Inter-Company Non-Rated Evening Division, Patriots made a remarkable comeback in the dying seconds to steal the game from NRF 80-79.

Down by 13 points at the end of the 3rd quarter, Patriots played tougher defense to neutralize NRF offense while at the same time gradually closing the gap to 78-79 from the 2 converted penalty shots from Painitan with 31 seconds left in the game.

But NRF squandered its ball possession, allowing Patriots to take their chance. Inbounding at midcourt with just 16 seconds left, Patriots were seeking to find the best shooting option as much as possible, until a surprising pass to an unsuspecting Gallardo who made the game winning basket from a lucky bounce.

With still 4 seconds left Patriots wisely used their 2 fouls to give before penalty, denying NRF a shot attempt till the buzzer. Painitan had an outstanding game with a game-high 27 points, as he orchestrated the Patriots offensive run in the 4th quarter with his 17-point shooting spree.

Gallardo finished with 19 points including the game clincher. Barry scored 16 points to lead NRF’s losing cause.

In other games in the division, IBN Sina crushed Nahdi Pharma 88-64 and Awdah smothered Silencer 80-56.

Rosero spearheaded IBN Sina with 29 points, followed by Abulencia 23 and Gemino 18 points. Beredo had 17 points for the losing team.

Sanchez led Awdah with 21 points, while Repollo and Disdo each had 12 points. Castillo scored 28 points and Joseph Meru 16 for Silencer.