Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate crushed Raffles Hotel 75-63 to keep their hopes alive in advancing to the next round of Synergy Sports’ Inter-Hotel Basketball Tournament at Al Twar 2 Sports Hall late Friday night.
Mark Bautista, who played for the first time for Mövenpick, provided the scoring muscle with his 22-point performance. He also grabbed nine rebounds and was supported by Roberto Dajay and Ali who finished with 15 and 12 points respectively.
Mövenpick player-coach Rey Mandane said: “Finally we found the missing link to our team. We did not have Baustista before but now his presence inside the paint gave us the edge. Everyone in our team also played well.”
After ending the first quarter with a four point lead, 19-15, Mövenpick tightened their defence in the second quarter while Bautista and Dajay took turns in burning the hoops producing 10 points each to give their team a commanding 19-point advantage, 42-23, at the half.
Mövenpick protected their lead in the third frame and entered the final period with a 20-point cushion, 61-41.
Raffles Hotel’s point guard Siob Gorospe, who top-scored with 31 points, and Ronald Lasuta led a brief rally at the start of fourth quarter but their deficit was too big as Mövenpick cruised to their second win in four games while Raffles Hotel dropped to one win and four loss record.
In other games, Kenyan centre Agrey Odhiambo led Atlantis The Palm, Dubai in trashing The H Hotel 77-39; Conrad Dubai overwhelmed Sofitel The Palm, Dubai 86-64 to register their sixth straight win in the tournament; while Gracer Torres took over at crunch time to hand Emaar Hospitality Group a come-from-behind win over Auris Plaza Hotel 63-61.
SCORERS
Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate 75 – Mark Bautista 22; Roberto Dajay 15; Ali 12; Kenneth Palmos 8; Vince Morales 6; Raymund 6; Art Marcelo 4; Shun Fabre 2
Raffles Dubai 63 – Siob Gorospe 31; Ronald Lasuta 17; Joseph Racho 10; John Candelario 2; Suhail Khan 2; Lugo 1
