Uncle Majid in thrilling victory over KIA-Lebanese Community

JEDDAH: Crowds that throng the basketball court of the new Modon (Industrial City Property Management) Industrial Plaza weekend after weekend enjoyed another quality basketball entertainment, as eliminations continued in the ISA-Modon Basketball Tournament 2016 .
Thursday, Uncle Majid Rice & Toppings averted what could have been another major collapse to score a thrilling 74-67 victory over KIA-Lebanese Community in the centerpiece Strong Division that has become even more attractive for basketball fans with the addition of Arab teams in the fold.
Francis Magat’s Uncle Majid squad had an 18-point lead, 49-31, late in the third quarter but saw this razed down to 5 points on back-to-back threes by Zakariah Albaba, and it was not until two free throws by Ziyad Pascual and layup by Malik on a pass by Arold Magat that the team heaved a collective sigh of relief, 66-57.
Uncle Majid went into the game on 1-1 following a heartbreaking defeat the previous week by Combibo 98-92 where bad decisions cost Uncle Majid a big lead and the match.
This time Uncle Majid made sure no such problem happened to improve to 2-1, as Best Player Rey Razon scored 18 points, Salman, providing added muscle in the middle, 13, Morsie Akad 11 and Mark Elamparo and Arold 9 apiece.
In another thrilling Strong Division game Friday, Syriana IKK, a community basketball team led by coach Mohammad Benni, defeated Butler 61-58.
The Syrians displayed a tremendous game to outscore the Juffali team in each quarter. Best Player awardee Faisal led a balanced scoring attack with 19 points, while Wabel contributed 16 points. Faisal was the player of the night.
Prior to this match was the an Inter-Company Bonafide D thriller between Net Channel and defending champion Americana.
Net Channel was up by 6 points with 5 minutes to play but came under heavy siege by Americana in the closing seconds before getting the victory thanks to three-point play with 4 seconds left by Tolentino who drove all the way to the basket, was fouled and made the bonus free-throw after a split charities by Guinto tied the count at 65-65. Former MVP Patling missed a desperation basket from beyond the arc for Americana, preserving the win for Net Channel 68-65.
Also Friday, B0-Cola brought down FMG 53-49 in the Inter-Company Bonafide Group C.
B-Cola started slow as FMG dominated 1st Quarter with 15-4 run. In the 2nd period, veteran player Tababa took charge closing the half with only 2 points lead by rival FMG. Meanwhile, FMG begun to struggle offensively with their and in the third quarter B-Cola began to pull away. Nuñez was the Best Player with 14 points.
In the first game Friday, Green Vision escaped with a 39-38 victory over Arabian Gulf Maid in the Inter-Company Bonafide Group C.
With a few seconds remaining and AGM ahead by 1 38-37, Arevalo scored on an uncontested jumper to end the game 39-37. Arevalo was declared the Best Player of the game.
Meantime, the luxury of longer preparation led Caesar to a 48-45 triiumph over Finetool in the first game Thursday.
Caesar played a strong defensive game and played well as a team. Despite the effort of Estrella to elevate Finetool’s score, Caesar was unstoppable till the end. Barrios was in good touch, rebounded well and posted a top score of 13 points for Caesar in the tournament sponsored by Perfetto. — With input from Alot Villafuerte