Auris Plaza Hotel squandered a big lead in the first half but finished strong in the final quarter to register a 56-47 victory over Sofitel The Palm, Dubai in Synergy Sports’ Inter-Hotel Basketball Tournament at Jumeira Baccalaureate School.
Looking for their first win in three games, Auris Plaza Hotel came out with guns blazing and established a 10-point lead, 16-6, in the first quarter which they increased to 15, 31-16, at the half.
But their shooting tapered off after that and they relinquished the driver’s seat to Sofitel in the third frame, 41-36.
Auris picked it up again in the fourth after Kenyan centre Gregory Odera recovered his shooting touch and scored 12 of his 28 points in the final period.
Kennedy Samudio, who finished with 11 points, and Jon Pecbot provided much support as Auris Plaza Hotel tightened their defence on Sofitel’s main man Reggie Diolazo, who registered a career-high 26 points.
“It was a good win although we had quite a scare in the third quarter,” Auris Plaza Hotel coach Sherwyn Serafica told Sport3600. “We started strong and we hope we can protect our lead and play more consistently in our next games to get more wins.”
Meanwhile, Conrad Dubai posted their third straight in the tournament after sinking Atlantis The Palm, Dubai 51-42. Roland Mahalong and Steve Olweny led Conrad with 13 and 11 points respectively while only Adriano Barlomento Jr. scored in double digits for Atlantis with 10 markers.
In other games, Siob Gorospe top-scored with 28 points to lead Raffles Dubai to a 62-51 win over The H Hotel; while five players scored in double figures in Emaar Hospitality Group’s 79-50 trashing of Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate. Darwin Tadua finished with 16 markers while Rontgen Abando, Nicolas Claudio, Gracer Torres, and Erwin Santos all scored 10 points each.
Scorers:
Auris Plaza Hotel 56 – Gregory Odera 28; Kennedy Samudio 11; Hernando Fernando 5; Justin Omondi 4; Jhon Sicat 3; Jon Pecbot 3; JR Sunga 2
Sofitel The Palm, Dubai 47 – Regie Diolazo 26; Wilbert Belgica 9; Carl Ladera 5; Jon Magtangob 2; Dante Abacan 2; Ruzel dela Cruz 2; Marlon Bitoon 1
