The Interbank Basketball League of Riyadh (IBLR) 2015 opened recently at the Yamama Hotel court with SABB and Alinma Bank scoring opening day victories against separate opponents.

With SABB and Alinma in the fold are ANB, Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) and Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB). The objective of the tournament is to foster sportsmanship and camaraderie among basketball enthusiasts in the banking community.

Present during the opening rites were team representatives, coaches, team captains, players and their families. The IBLR Organizing Committee is composed of its chairman Bobby Ting of Alinma and vice-chairman Anthony Villanueva of BSF and all team representatives.

Organized in cooperation with PKR (Pinoy Kadribols Riyadh) chaired by Nel Bradecina with Teddy Alada Jr. as commissioner the tournament format is a double round robin eliminations to be followed by the playoff stage consisting of the knock out semifinals and best-of-three finals.

Welcome address by PKR chairman and the awarding of certificate of appreciation to the IBLR chairman got the proceedings going. Also, Chairman Ting delivered opening remarks while IBLR vice-chairman led the oath of sportsmanship.

SABRA had been appointed to handle the tournament officiating with Shutters Guild the official photographers for the opening.

SAIB won the Best Team in Uniform award.

In the first game, SABB crushed Arab National Bank 92-68. Veteran Lino Fenandez scored a game-high 38 points to lead SABB. He was supported by Peter Merquita with 18 points and 17 rebounds. Also scoring in double digits were Dante Ramones with 12 and Jojo Villarisco with 10 points.

For ANB, Edgardo Borromeo top-scored with 34 points and had 22 rebounds. Also contributing were Richard Castillio with 16 points and Ezbon Lobaton with 8 points. Jun Hechanova pulled down 10 rebounds in a losing cause. Halftime score was 56-30 to SABB.

Routs were the order of the day as Alinma blasted SAIB 83-40. Alinma had a balance attack with Ron Rivera scoring 16 points, Ebrahim Mohammed 15 points, Yazid Bastami 13 points with 12 rebounds and Julius Alfonso 12 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.

Lito Tolentino almost had a near double double with 9 points and 9 rebounds. SAIB was led by Anthony Inciong with 15 markers with contributions from Randy Lacson with 7 points and Jonas Moreto with 6 points. Halftime score was 47 -17 to Alinma. The Best Player of the first game was Fernandez of SABB and in the second game it was awarded to Ebrahim Mohammed of Alinma. BSF was the bye team of the opening week.

Week 2 matches pitted BSF against Alinma Bank and SABB against SAIB.

In the first game, BSF beat Alinma 57-54 thanks to the outstanding play of point guard Ivan Marcelino who enjoyed a double double with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Providing scoring support were Jozel Labinghisa with 14 markers and Anthony Villanueva with 5 points. Yazid Bastami top-scored for Alinma with 13 points and 8 rebounds followed by Sameer Adam and Ronald Rivera scoring 11 points each. Adam pulled down a game-high 20 rebounds. It was a closely fought match with Alinma unable to capitalize on its 52 to 33 rebound advantage and with BSF playing steadier down the stretch. Halftime score was 27-25 to BSF.

In the second game, SABB scored its second straight win with a 76-51 victory over SAIB.

Top scorer again for SABB was Lino Fernandez (27 points) with Dante Ramones pouring in 19 points from the outside.

Although outrebounded 45 to 53, SABB controlled the game dishing out 28 assists as against 16 assists for SAIB. The halftime score was 35-12 to SABB. Best Player award for the first game went to Ivan Marcelino of BSF and in the second game to Lino Fernandez (SABB).

SABB leads the tournament with a 2-0 win-loss record followed by BSF (1-0), Alinma (1-1), ANB (0-1) and SAIB (0-2).