SABB cagers lead IBLR tourney

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RIYADH: Day 3 of the Interbank Basketball League of Riyadh (IBLR) had Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) battling Arab National Bank in the first game and early favorite Saudi British Bank (SABB) and Alinma Bank facing off in the second game at Al Yamama court.
ANB surprised BSF from the tip-off with good defense on BSF’s top scorers en route to a 77-59 victory. Richard Castillo top scored with 31 points with Gab Gabitanan banging in 13 and adding 12 rebounds. Mohammad Farroukh scored 9 points all from the 3-point area and hauled down 8 rebounds.
For BSF Ivan Marcelino continued to be the main man with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Also providing scoring support were Jozel Labinghisa and Rosel Salazar both with 10 points while Dennis Buot added 7 points and team-high 11 rebounds. Half time score was still close at 30 -26 with ANB holding a slight lead. However, ANB pulled away in the second half with outside sniping of Castillo which broke up BSFs’ zone defense. Castillo was judged the Best Player of the first game.
In the second game, SABB jumped out to a 12-point lead before Alinma stormed back in the third quarter. With the momentum swinging in Alinma’s favor, the game was suspended due to rain that made the court unplayable.
On Day 4, the suspended game resumed with Alinma leading SABB by one point with 56 seconds in the third period. However in the fourth quarter, SABB poured it on with the absence of Alinma’s key players. The final score was 66-60 to SABB. It was a hard fought battle with Peter Merquita scoring 21 points on pull up jump shots from all angles. He also pulled down 13 rebounds. Merquita was ably supported by Dante Ramones and Ron Alega both with 13 points each. SABB paraded big man Fady Ratl who added 8 points and 13 rebounds in key stages of the ball game. Alinma had a monster game from Samer Adam with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Yazid Bastami contributed 13 points while Ronald Rivera added 12 points. Peter Merquita of SABB Unified was named Best Player of the game.
In the next game, Arab National Bank (ANB) routed Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB) 87-47. The trio of Gab Gaitanan, Richard Castillio and Ezbon Lobaton created the most damage with 24, 23 and 16 points respectively. Gabitanan also grabbed a team high 10 rebounds. ANB played without its regular center Ed Borromeo but still controlled the rebounds with 64 to 47 for SAIB. SAIB spitfire, Jonas Moreto, scored 18 points with Karlo Octavo and Randy Lacson adding 7 points and 6 points. The Best Player of the game was ANB’s Gab Gabitanan.
In the last game of the night, giant killer BSF added another scalp to its collection by beating previously unbeate SABB 63-62 in an exciting down to the wire duel. BSF started out strong building double digit leads in the first and second quarters. SABB recovered near the end of the second half to cut the lead down to 6 points at 31-25.
SABB put on the pressure in the second half but could not get close until the last few minutes of the fourth quarter where Merquita caught fire to rally his team. Leading the charge for BSF was the reliable Ivan Marcelino who had 19 points and 8 rebounds with timely contribution from Dan Alcantara who scattered 17 points to douse SABB’s rally time and again. Marcelino and Alcantara were adjudged co-Best Players of the game. Anthony Villanueva added 10 points and Jose Labinghisa 9.
For SABB Peter Merquita scored 23 points and hauled down a game-high 24. Ralt scored 14 points and had 16 rebounds but was saddled with three fouls in the first half and eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter. But in the dying seconds of the game it was the heads up play of Marcelino breaking up a last ditch attack by SABB which sealed BSF’s win.
At the end of Day 4, SABB still leads with 3 -1 win-loss record; BSF and ANB are tied at 2-1 ; followed by Alinma 1-2 and SAIB 3-0.