Nestle overcome Crowne Plaza in Jazzville League

Jose Maria Santos 09:33 17/04/2016
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  • Fierce competition: Jazzville league.
    Nestlé (Nescafé) bucked a slow start and went full throttle in the third quarter to outrun Crowne Plaza Dubai 60-49 and earn a trip to the Final of Jazzville Basketball League – Inter-company Division at the Jumeira Baccalaureate School.
    Arnold Booker, who was declared best player of the game, delivered 18 points, including five triples, and served as the fulcrum in Nestle’s big third quarter run. He got much support from Al Federiso and Benjie Cabanilla who added 14 and 11 points respectively while Jojo Roque chipped in eight markers.
    Nestlé and Crowne Plaza were tied at 13 points each at the end of the first quarter before Nestlé took a slight three-point lead, 21-18, at the half. But they opened the third frame with a six unanswered points en route to a 16-5 spurt which gave them their biggest lead at 14, 37-23, after Booker hit a three-pointer.
    Nestlé maintained a double-digit lead, 47-34,  at the start of the fourth quarter but the back-court duo of MJ Paderon (19 points) and Robert Lajara (18 points) pumped some life into Crowne Plaza and closed the gap to just five, 47-42, with barely five minutes left in the game.
    Booker, however, quickly doused Crowne Plaza’s rally with another booming triple, followed by Roque’s jumper which gave them back a double-digit lead, 52-42, entering the final two minutes.
    Star Man: Arnold Booker.

    Star Man: Arnold Booker.

    The two-man game of Crowne Plaza proved futile as Nestlé easily marched to a 60-49 victory.
    “We had a slow start; we played quite relaxed in the first two quarters,” Booker told Sport3600.  “But we went full throttle in the third and made some adjustments with our defence – from zone, we shifted to man-to-man defence to quicken and raise the intensity of the game,” added Booker, who previously played for Crowne Plaza.
    For his part, Crowne Plaza player-coach Patrick Tiongco lamented their lack of ceiling with the absence of centre Jhayson Alminario. “He’s a big loss to the team but despite our lack of personnel, we persevered and fought till the end.”
    Meanwhile, Souq.com crushed Al Tayer Motors 57-43 in the other semi-final duel to earn a ticket to face Nestlé in the final. Wang Alvarez led Souq.com with 19 points while Joe Vladimir and Kelly Montilla added 10 and nine markers respectively.
    Alavarez and company dominated the game from the get-go. They established a 12-point first quarter lead and increased their advantage to 15, 33-18, at the half, and never looked back.

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