A couple of games that had all the trappings of a championship battle and, certainly, a lot more highlighted the Friday finals of the concluding Week 19 in the 2nd Nokia-Asha and 35th FBA season basketball tournament at the Sheraton Jeddah Hotel Sport Complex court here.

Sequoia got the team it wanted to play in the knockout final — KIA Motors — if only to avenge its only defeat in the tournament, but Jimmy Abdullah Beltran’s charges practically had to go through a wringer before winning the Inter-Company Bonafide Division A championship crown.

Sequoia was dragged to overtime and needed a perfectly executed game winning play to pull off a 91-89 victory that gave Beltran his sixth championship at six different tournament venues in Jeddah.

Malik Ampuan atoned for his critical free-throw misses in regulation period by scoring the first six and eight of Sequoia’s 12 points in the extra period and feeding Willard Baluyut with the winning basket.

With the score at 89-89 and eight seconds left on the clock, Jay Liam inbounded the ball to Montano dela Cruz who milked the clock a bit before passing to Ampuan deep under the basket. Without hesitation, Ampuan elected to pass to an open Baluyut who buried his layup and with it the KIA’s title hopes, time down to three seconds.

KIA twice came back from 6 points down, the last at 88-82, with 1:13 left in overtime to tie the game at 89 on a desperation three that swished the net by Lisztian Amparado. The regulation period ended 77-all.

Ampuan, named Best Player of the final, finished the night with 17 points, while Liam had 27 including a three that gave their team an 86-80 lead with 2:19 left in the extra period. Denden Amir added 13 points including the first eight to start the game and Baluyut also 13.

Equally exciting was the Inter-Hospital Reinforced Division final that was decided in the waning seconds with KFAFH beating Salam Home Healthcare 82-81.

The game was so intense Egyptian player Hamdi left the game with a cut above his eyebrow.

Tom Basa also suffered a bloodied nose from an accidental elbow by Joseph Ubalde during a contentious Open Rated final clash between Friendster and Spicy Fingers that degenerated into an ugly ending when Spicy’s Adrian Bulacan raced from the bench and floored Salman with a punch to the jaw in a mindless cowardly act with 6:49 left in the third quarter and the score 49-45 to Spicy.

The unfortunate incident left organizers with no choice but to cancel the game and no trophies awarded for the champion and first runner-up teams. However, second runner-up and third runner-up were awarded to Jeddah United and Avengers.

In a statement, FBA President Edgar Mendoza thanked the fans and generous sponsors for their full support of the most prestigious and longest running tournament in the western region. He assured them hooliganism will not be tolerated in the FBA and that they will be stricter with rules implementation especially for violators or offenders. Mendoza also thanked all participating teams, Sheraton Jeddah Hotel management through Ramy S. Kurdy, Team-up Events management and prominent individuals in the community.

Tentative start of the next conference is between August and September. Interested teams may contact Jason Manacsa at 05447-38756, George Feliciano at 05426-42604 or Jonathan Canda at 0561150049 or send e-mail to [email protected].

Awardees are as follows:

Inter-Company Bonafide Divison A — Champion ALJ-UIS Toyota Sequoia, 1st runner-up KIA Motors, 2nd runner-up Giordano-Juffali, 3rd runner-up Pepsi; Mythical five Best Guards Meting (KIA), Akmad (Sequoia), Best Forwards Gilbert Cutamura (KIA), Montano dela Cruz (Sequoia); Most Valuable Player Montano dela Cruz, Most Defensive Player Harry Santiago (KIA), Best Coach Ramil Martin, Best Manager Jimmy Abdullah Beltran

Inter-Hospital Reinforced Division — Champion KFAFH, 1st runner-up Salam Home Health Care, 2nd runner-up Fakeeh Hospital, 3rd runner-up Saudi German Hospital; Mythical five Best Guards Lisztian Amparado (KFAFH), Dela Cruz (Salam), Best Forwards Barry Nader (KFAFH), Hamdy (Salam), Best Center Harry Santiago (KFAFH), MVP Barry Nader, Most Defensive Player Elmer Geniza (KFAFH), Best Coach Bugz Ferrer (KFAFH), Best Manager Ferrer, Chris Melebo (KFAFH)