JEDDAH: Make no mistake, Filipinos are arguably the best this side of hoops town.

Playing smart basketball, Team Pilipinas-Panino’s on Saturday ran roughshod over the KIA Al-Jabr Lebanese community basketball team with a taller and bigger lineup, 83-61, in the final in the Intercultural Basketball Tournament at the Al-Kaki court (Orca) on Tahlia street.

The victory before a predominantly raucous Lebanese crowd capped consecutive nights of high quality basketball from the gritty Pilipinas team of manager Ernie Cabauatan and coach Francis Magat.

They needed to win their final game of eliminations Friday against the Lebanese, and they did just that, allowing the opponent to lead only briefly at 30-29 before rolling to a 95-76 victory in a game where Mursie Akad scored the first 11 points for Team Pilipinas before eventual MVP Joseph Ubalde and JR Piedra took charge to sow the seeds of the rout.

The result left finalists Panino’s and Lebanese tied on 3-1 in the round robin five-team tournament, a community event with international flavor sponsored by SAGE (Saudi Alumni Grant Enterprise) under the auspices of United States Consulate General in Jeddah.

In the first game Friday, Egypt avoided a winless finish when it beat Syriana-IKK 74-71, and both teams wound up with identical 1-3 card. KAU-Saudi Arabia, the only team to beat the Filipinos, had an even 2-2 record.

Saturday, the championship game atmosphere was palpable with the Lebanese making a big deal of the match by bringing along an army of supporters and making live streaming on Facebook.

As it turned out, the Lebanese for all the drumbeating by their coach Hassan Zeineddein were simply no match for the inspired Filipinos.

Ubalde, putting on a performance worthy of an MVP award, scored 19 points, Rey Razon added 15 and Piedra had 10 as Team Pilipinas broke free from a close first quarter to dominate the game and lead by as large as 26 points at one stage.

An 11-4 run to start the second quarter courtesy of Piedra, Akad, Ubalde and Ziyad Pascual put the Filipinos to their first double-digit lead of 11 points, 34-23, from 23-19 at the end of the first quarter.

The lead grew to 20 points, 55-35, with 4:43 left in the third period that ended 65-41 when peppery guard Rino Berrido, the scourge of the Lebanese side, hit a shot clock-beating basket before Jimboy Pascual made it 67-41.

Berrido finished the night with 9 points as did Ziyad and Guimpatan while Akad tallied 8 points.

Big Fadi Kheyami led the Lebanese with 18 points, Shadi Faraj added 10, Malek Masry 8 points while Tarek Al Eter and Zakarya El Baba each had 7 points.

Consul Jonas Rodney Sumague of the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah attended the awarding ceremony as chief guest. Teng Laguialam and Jimmy Abdullah Beltran representing the Filipino basketball community graced the final match.

Also present were Commissioner Mohammed Khamis Musalam, head referee Ahmed Helmi of Saudi Basketball Federation, Obaid Madani and Lina Almaeena from sponsor Jeddah United, and Global Activene’s Indira Kaljo, among other VIP guests. Filsama Basketball League Event Manager Mohammed Shobain expressed his thanks to all who helped make the event a big success in particular Consultant-adviser Mohamed Bayoumi, who is widely considered the bridge in the ties between Filipino and Arab basketball communities.

The mythical five awardees are Best Point Guard Berrido (Team Pilipinas, Best Guard Ahmed Kheir (Lebanon), Best Forward Mustafa Fattal (Lebanon), and Best Center Piedra (Team Pilipinas).

Magat, now 2-0 in his head-to-head with Zeineddein, is the Best Coach awardee. Special award of appreciation was presented to Jun Lansang and his BOG referees group, which did a good job in the tournament. Willy Cartagena did the play-by-play of the games and color commentary.