JEDDAH — Manila Zago rode on the sterling display of Roldan Vallejo and gritty efforts from Palo and Sanchez to stave off a rallying Abna Marantao team by two points and make the semifianls of the Jeddah Legends Basketball Tournament here. In one of the hotly-contested games of JLBT, sponsored by Timex, Manila Zago, and Al Mukhlis Hearing Center, Manila Zago started and finished strongly against Abna Marantao team 92-90 to join JunBarkads in the semifinals. JunBarkads got the measure of Alumco 95-79 in the second contest of Friday. Despite the score, Alumco took the match to JunBarkads, who pulled away with a steaming offense in the final two quarters. Manila Zago team Manager Dr. Loue Ghazi and Coach Glenn Corpuz shaped the team's effort in the knock out game against the Abna Marantao. Vallejo was adjudged the best player of the game and he was ably-assisted by Palo and Sanchez, both logging 14 points apiece. For Abna Marantao, Baracat blazed the way with 24 points but it was in vain. Macapodi and Palawan contributed 19 points each. Manila Zago: 92 (Vallejo 16 pts; Palo 14 pts; Sanchez 14 pts; Veras 13 pts; Regondola 9 pts; Boncas 8 pts; Cabalu 7 pts; Marmay 3 pts; Sales 3 pts; Loue 3 pts; Reyes 2 pts) Abna Marantao: 90 (Bacarat 24 pts; Macapodi 19 pts; Palawan 19 pts; Sampaco 15 pts; Deriposun 6 pts; Guro 3 pts; Macadatar 2 pts; Macadar 2 pts)
The JunBarkads team headed by coach Baloloy and team manager Jun Mejia too entered the semifinal when they quelled Alumco team in a knock out game. Ismael Kursit was chosen the best player of the game with a total of 23 points. Junbarkads: 95 (Ismael 23 pts; Amir 20 pts; Bayona 17 pts; Abubakar 16 pts; Wahid 6 pts; Sanches 6 pts; Disquitado 3 pts; Baloloy 2 pts; Pangayao 2 pts) Alumco: 79 (Tan 20 pts; Danao 15 pts; Maulana 14 pts; Tanondong 11 pts; Pasko 8 pts; Morelos 3 pts; Roxas 5 pts; Alcaraz 3 pts) In Thursday games, Jeddah Guard beat Abna Marantao 101-58 for a whopping 43 points margin victory. Bashar got the best player of the game award and took his team to be the top in the standings in Group A of non-rated division. In the rated division, Avengers staged a superb rally to clinch a very crucial and emotional game against Egypt Stars 74-60. The second game of the day started with the Egypt team ahead by 15 points by the first half. But during the last quarter Avengers caught fire and took the lead with some super scoring efforts and got the win by 14 points. Avengers: 74 (Wabel 26 pts; Mazen 11 pts; Kaidal 9 pts; Muhamad 8 pts; Kemo 8 pts; Mohammad 5 pts; Rashad 4 pts; Nassib 3 pts) Egypt Stars: 60 (Amir 20 pts; Hamid 10 pts; Fauzi 8 pts; Wahdan 7 pts; Abdul Ghafar 6 pts; Tawil 4 pts; Mizoo 2 pts; Hazem 2 pts. Mahmod 1 pt)
In the third game of the day, in the rated division, Lebanese Cedars team outplayed Al Mukhlis to register a 27 points win. They won 72-45 with Zergo topscoring with 14 points. He picked the best player of the game award.
