KSA - Fahd Alireza wallop Dammam Warriors in UFSA-DBL cagafest

DAMMAM (UFSA-DBL tournament) - Proving they were not the league's traditional whipping boys; Fahd Alireza Engineering Consultants scored a marvelous 89-67 upsetting to the Dammam Warriors in the knock-out match, as the United Filipino Sports Association - Dammam Basketball League (UFSA-DBL) enter its semi-final round sponsored by Universal Motors Agency at the crowded Al Nahda, Sports Club here.

With the win, Fahd Alireza will face Tamimi Saihati Company (Taseco) in the championship match.

Fresh from their campaign in the Battle of the Champions presented by the same organizers during the Hajj Holidays, the Consultants displayed lots of intensity and hard work to take an insurmountable lead from the beginning until the end of the game to snare their fifth win in sixth outing.

"We just took advantage of the mismatches and our foot speed against their big men. We all know that Dammam Warrior is a very talented team," said Alireza head coach Anton De Leon. "All the players can take the outside shot. All they have to do is move the ball," he added.

The Consultant's offensive artilleries clicked especially from the outside, something that was missing in some of their games.

The boys of Fouad Kabaloui and K. Ramakrishnan had good looks from the outside, hitting 13-of-23 shots from beyond the arc. It was the most number of three-point shots converted by the Consultants since joining the league, wherein they hit 11 against the Warriors.

It appeared that James Nueca was on a great shooting mood beyond the arc as he led the victors with 21 points-on a 6-of-14 sniping in the perimeter zone-while forward Jeff Bajar pumped in 20 points and hauled down seven rebounds.

Nueca had 14 markers in the third including the two trey that held back all the opportunities of the Warriors to come back in the match. Rowy Lozada added two more charities to give the Consultants their highest lead at 69-53 with 1:18 left there.

Although the lead was seemed unreachable, the fearless Dammam Warriors kept their never-say-die attitude as they unleashed a furious 16-0 burst, capped by Rommel Dela Cruz, Melchor Coro and Florence Gomez put back, to close in on at 77-61 with 2:35 remaining in the last canto.

But Jun Ortiola made a backdoor pass to Christian Guevarra, who registered a three-point play on the next possession to stretch the Consultants lead to 80-61 and banish all threats.

Guevarra had 12 points-on a 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc, while Danny Falcone and Ortiola combined with 17 points.

Power play of Nueca and Bajar bombarded the enemy lines with barrages of basket then Lozada added a basket to increase Alireza's lead to 57-42 in the start of last frame.

Rommel Dela Cruz led the Warriors with 13 points, while JR Pring added 10 points and 14 rebounds, while and Florence Gomez and Melchor Coro got 11 points apiece.

The tournament is being sponsored Universal Motors Agency, supported by Trading Establishment of Al Bahar sole distributor of W.L. Super Bawang Muncher, M.R. Al Khathlan, Fahd Alireza Engineering Consultants, Nalco, Sky Freight Forwarders, Hempel Paints, National Pipe Company, BAI Aluminum, Mediacom International, Mc Donalds Restaurant and ABS-CBN The Filipino Channel.

The tournament is being officiated by Basketball Referee Association in Dammam (BRAD) headed by Eli Panahon.

Other semi-final round results, Unified Command beat Gate Fleximax 66-53, Gentec dump Orbit Tiger 72-62, Tropang Khobar whip W.L. Super Bawang 63-62, Pangasinan Waves trash Sing Dollar 105-97, Nineteen defeated Bantang Rizal 80-68, Universal Motors outplay Carlson Cargo, 70-57, while Taseco smashed Insuns Redminzer.

By: Kim G. Cortez
FIBA