Dammam, Saudi Arabia – It is a basketball tournament where, against current trends, offense played a big part in making this competition such a spectacle.
Al Majdouie Group dribblers are Eastern Province Basketball League Champion again. The Majdouie Team, who joined the league in 2007, completed a two-game sweep against arch-rival multi titlist Al Falak System Solution to wrap up their back to back Crown in a Best-of-Three Final in the Inter-Company Division, which concluded the EPBL 2nd Conference dubbed as General Machinery Agencies Cup here on Friday.
Al Majdouie took game one via a thrilling overtime 83-82 win and outlasted their rivals again in an easier fashion crafting a 90-78 victory in game two using the strength of their good start.
General Machinery Agencies, established in Saudi Arabia in 1957, is a provider of first class truck heavy machinery equipment used mainly in mining and construction and maintains the largest spare parts inventory in the Kingdom, is the major sponsor of EPBL 2008 second Conference supported by Al Falak System Solution, Al Majdouie Heavy Lift Transport, Phuket Restaurant, Hoshan Office Automation and Cecile’s Catering with the cooperation of Mc Donalds, Orbit and The Filipino Channel.
Majdouie came up with their best game in the tournament. They outrun Al Falak in fast break points 22-8. They rebounded at both ends 26-14 and coach Lawrence Militante’s bench outscored the boys of mentor JonJon Bueno 14-0.
Rookie forward Julius de Leon, following up his 23 point 1st game performance, led Majdouie with 31 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. First conference MVP Joy Belmonte added 30 points and playmaker Jeffrey Salvador tallied six points and seven assists for the champions.
Al Falak, looking for the equalizer in this game, hung on very tough, building momentum in their late surge with Erick Antonio garnering 14 of his 30 points in a run in the fourth quarter to rally to an 11 point deficit at 59-70 with seven minutes remaining from an 18-point hole deficit 52-70 at the end of the third period.
Belmonte, de Leon and Jay Recato responded after a 3-minute drought with an 11-4 run to widen the gap to 81-63 with 4:12 remaining. However, Jonathan Marinas, Chris Alfonso and Antonio kept it alive for Al Falak to trim the lead to 8 points 84-76 with 1:08 remaining, but that was the last challenge they had until the final buzzer.
The Majdouie 2nd Championship Crown marked them as one of the few basketball teams who earned the feat in EPBL and was supported by their Top Executive Abdullah Ali Al Majdouie, General Manager Humayun Mirza, Sports Managers Basel Abdo and Tajamul Pasha and their energetic Sports Coordinator Joseph Araullo.
The multi-titlist Al Falak was personally managed and supported by their Top Executive Basel Humaidah.
Best Coach Award was given to Lawrence Militante and the Mythical Five was awarded to Belmonte, Salvador, and de Leon of Majdouie while Chris Alfonso and Marinas of Al Falak came through to complete the five.
Mythical 5 members are Julius de Leon, Jeffrey Salvador, Joy Belmonte, Jonathan Marinas and Chris Alfonso. De Leon was adjudged MVP.
In a related development, EPBL announced its 2009 Conference was now open for registration. For more details please e-mail them at epblnewsdesk@gmail.com.
The scores:
Al Majdouie 90 – de Leon Julius 32; Belmonte Joy 30; Salvador Jeffrey 6; Recato Jay 4; Baltazar JP 4; dela Cruz Ronald 4; Abolorio George 4; Agot Dennis 2; Akad Hadi 2; Enojas Allan 2; Macaculop Paolo 0; Collado Arnold 0.
Al Falak 78 – Antonio Erick 30; Marinas Jonathan 28; Alfonso Chris 12; Garcia Ronald 8; Thikralla Mohd 0; Ortillo Gilbert 0; Santiago Edwin 0; Uri Vice Roy 0; Balelin Richard 0.
Quarter score: 26-14; 48-27; 70-52; 90-78