RIYADH: The Interbank Basketball League of Riyadh (IBLR) playoffs commenced Wednesday last week at the Yamama court here.

In the fight for 3rd place, Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) beat Arab National Bank (ANB) with a score of 73-62. BSF was led by Jozel Labinghisa with 16 points and ever reliable Ivan Marcelino adding 15 points despite an eye injury sustained during the game.

Top rebounder for BSF was Dennis Buot with 10 aside from chipping in 8 points. ANB tried to catch up with BSF but could not bring the lead to single-digit.

Top-scoring for ANB was the dynamic duo of Gab Gabitanan with 20 points and 16 rebounds and Egay Borromeo with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Best player for the game were Labinghisa and Marcelino of BSF.

In the second game featuring the pre-tournament favorites, SABB took Game 1 vs. Alinma Bank in the best-of-three finals with the score 80 to 69.

Half time score was a close 42-41 in favor of SABB but in the second half SABB played more cohesive basketball to increase its lead in the game. Leading the scoring for SABB were Peter Merquita with 11 points and 12 rebounds, dead shot Lino Fernandez with 19 markers, daredevil Ron Asuncion with 15 points, and Ron Alega with 14 points and 17 boards.

For Alinma, Sameer Adam had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Johnrey Lorena and Ebrahim Mohammed with 12 points each. Best player of the game honors went to Merquita and Alega.

In the second final game held last Friday, SABB repeated over Alinma 85-44. Alinma missed the services of its top three players, who were either injured or sick, for the decisive game.

However, SABB should be congratulated for its fine play as they were the more experienced team and deserving to win the first IBLR championship.

SABB were paced by Lino Fernandez and Ron Alega with 16 points, Ron Asuncion with 14 points and Peter Merquita had a triple double with 12 points, 11 assists and 15 rebounds. Alinma top scorers were Johnrey Lorena with 14, Ebrahim Mohammed with 9 points and Deen Thasnir Thassim adding 7 points. Merquita was judged as the Best Player of the Game as well as the Finals MVP.

The awarding ceremonies were held right after the final game. The teams received their team trophies: SABB — Champion, Alinma – 1st Runner Up, BSF – 2nd Runner Up, ANB – 3rd Runner Up and SAIB – 4th Runner Up. Most Sportsmanship Team and Best in Uniform awards went to SAIB. For the individual awards, Peter Merquita won the conference MVP as well as the Finals MVP, Jun Ramones bagged the Best in 3 Points, 1st Mythical Team composed of Peter Merquita (SABB), Ivan Marcelino (BSF), Sameer Adam (Alinma), Gab Gabitanan (ANB) and Yazid Bastami (Alinma), and the 2nd Mythical Team made up of Jun Ramones (SABB), Lino Fernandez (SABB), Ron Alega (SABB), Ed Borromeo (ANB) and Ezbon Lobaton (ANB).

This IBLR tournament was made possible through the stewardship of IBLR Chairman Bobby Ting (Alinma) and Vice Chairman Anthony Villanueva (BSF) and the other bank representatives (Ron Asuncion-SABB, Ezbon Lobaton-ANB and Anthony Inciong-SAIB) in cooperation with PKR represented by its chairman Nel Bradecina and commissioner Teddy Alada Jr.