RIYADH, 22 March — Saudi Oger of Nestor Mauyao took their turn under the spotlight when they dumped Al Humaidi Trading of Jesse Gutierrez in a 4-0 shutout decision on the 15th week of the Marhaba Bowling tournament at the FAL Bowling Center in Riyadh.
Saudi Oger had the same 260 points (200 + 60) output registered by Unicorn of Willie Termulo and the Mavericks of Ben Carriaga in that low-scoring week.
But the mighty Mavericks who are virtually untouchable at No. 1 and the title contender Unicorn had long basked in their glory. Fittingly, Saudi Oger took center stage on the 15th week of the tourney sponsored by Marhaba Phone Card.
Meanwhile, Malco Muyco carved his own niche in the tournament’s circle of winners by clinching the Bowler of the Week plum with the best score of 846. Muyco’s feat which brought pride to his MIB teammates was earned from scratch games of 182, 169, 203 & 196 with a handicap of 24 per game. Yusuf Fernandez of Mavericks was a distant second with his 802 (200, 189, 148 & 189 + 19 handicap).
Ramir Santos ignited Saudi Oger’s blast with his 220 (including 30 handicap) in Game 1 in the battle of 2 handicap-rich teams. He joined hands with Rommel Agbayani in bringing down Al Humaidi in 4 straight sets (912-883, 884-869, 877-826 & 923-892).
After the match, Al Humaidi Trading dropped to No. 9 while Saudi Oger inched up to No. 7 in the 12-team pack. Team captain Jesse Gutierrez tried to salvage some pride for Al Humaidi as he led his team with 745 pins. But their best chance was 869-884 in Game 2.
Agbayani rolled the best for Saudi Oger with 777 pins while Santos canned 758. Together with captain Mauyao (516/3 games), Boy Caparal Jr. (740/4 games), Manny Tuzon (441/3 games) and Mario Reyes (364 / 3 games), they gave Saudi Oger the maximum 200 winpoints while bagging 60 bonus points along the way.
Gutierrez’ fallen warriors who played 4 games each were Patrick Maquiran (663), Neil Echevarria (678), Manny Balangue (736) and Alvin de Guzman (648).
Unicorn’s 260 points output was likewise the fruit of another well-played 4-0 shutout win over MIB of Beltran Tatoy. Unicorn, rubbing elbows with the frontliners, secured the No. 3 post after the great games of Rene Dimapilis (759), Efren Abuyo (753), Jose Concepcion (721), Willie Termulo (721) and Julian Corro (650).
Unicorn’s stalwart Jhing Sahagun who did not play that day is the tourney’s No. 1 bowler with an average of 184.45 in 38 games. Benjie Presto of luck-starved Tsamba Konnection is a distant No. 2 with 180.67 in 39 games. Benjie Bangug of virtual champion Mavericks is No. 3 with 178.31.
MIB of Beltran Tatoy, No. 10 in the standings, did not have much chance against Unicorn’s firepower. But Maco Muyco had reason to celebrate as he dazzled to win the BOW award right in the Unicorn’s frontyard.
Captain Tatoy, BOW awardee Muyco, Mario Temana, Ricky Bunao, Hannibal Geronimo and the prolific Mark Corrals were the MIB quintet who succumbed to Unicorn’s firepower (933-879, 904-857, 878-846 & 889-842).
In a pair of hard-fought matches, Alley Bang Bang of Rolly Manalang whipped Schneider Electric of Marvin Arocena in a 3-1 match while Tsamba Konnection of John Harris finally found their touch in a similar 3-1 decision against the tough McDonald of Toffee San Jose.
Winners ABB collected 180 points to hold on to No. 4 while Tsamba Konnection garnered also 180 to secure No. 6. The losing McDonald settled for 50 points for 5th place while Schneider did better with 110 which did not get them out of No. 8.
JR Bagon (728) and Leo Agote (751) topscored for winners ABB and Tsamba Konnection respectively while Marvin Arocena (793) and Nante Paralejas (690) led in the losing cause of Schneider and McDonald respectively.
The league-leading Mavericks had another easy 260 points from a 4-0 shutout over a default team. They are slowly building a solid 799 points wall over the No. 1 post, but what else is new?
