APEP in thrilling win over Hoty-Stanger; Arcon and Gubat beat rivals

Arabian Point Eight Power Co. Ltd (APEP) of team manager Lhito Bautista continued its surge in Inter-Company Group A when it beat underdog Al Hoty Stanger 74-73 in a nail-biting game Friday at Al Qadisiyah sports Gymnasium here.
Unlike its two easy victories APEP had to dig deep in its arsenal to put away the hard-fighting Hoty and score the win that gave coach Henry Alminiana a 3-0 win-loss card.
APEP jumped out to an early 18-8 lead in the opening quarter courtesy of ace guard Randy Sotto who pumped in 10 of his 14 points including 2 triples in that period backed by his younger brother Ricardo Sotto’s 17 markers and athletic James Chua’s 15 in a match that could have gone either way. Nelson Sambahon knocked down back-to-back threes and a layup shot plus Cris Cariaso’s underneath baskets enabled Hoty to close within one at 23-22 at the end of first quarter.
Nine points from the Ricardo, and at least 3 points each from his Randy, Chua and Ceasar Java provided the spark for APEP, which took an 8-point lead and went to keep Hoty at bay to lead 44-36 at the turn.
Hoty showed some signs of recovery early in the third quarter as they pulled within 51-45 off Sambahon’s 5 hustle shots and Cariaso’s 2 markers, 6:00 on the clock. But APEP countered back with another 8-0 run behind Chua, James Bayangos and younger Sotto to widen the gap by 14, 59-45, 3:45 to go.
Hoty’s Nelson Sambahon tallied a game-high 32 points including 5 triples, Juno Amurao added 17 markers and Chris Cariaso had 15, who kept the game close up to late moments of the last quarter, forging a 71-71 count, 1:27 remaining. Point guard Janus Villasanta finished with only 3 points, but proved a steady factor especially in the late fourth quarter rally.
Both teams refused to budge pouring in points from both ends until Hoty’s Amurao broke the deadlock with a split charity, 72-71, with 48.4 seconds left, but two Chua free-throws gave APEP back the lead, 73-72, with 13 ticks remaining. Amurao tied the game anew, 73-73, with one charity off Chua’s foul with just hundredths of a second left but Amurao committed a costly foul on the sneaking Ricardo when the buzzer sounded.
Ricardo missed his first free-throw but sank the last pressure packed game-winning basket on penalty.
Arcon beat winless Almira 73-64 to give General Manager Ramzi Shami its first victory in Inter-company Group B. Coached by team manager Jon Germono, Arcon drew an inspired game from Ricky Pico who topscored with 20 points, Jemar Plandez added 17 markers, Ronel Francas and Rabih Raad had 12 and 10 points respectively while Proceso Marquez and Melchor Tambot each added 7 points.
Gubat sustained a late fourth quarter rally to overcome a strong challenge from Abana and score an 89-83 come-from-behind victory in Junior D5-A. Reggie Mancao led Gubat with 17 points, John Lazaro added 15, while four other teammates, Ruben Agaton, Kenneth Dela Rosa, Edmar Doromal and Marlon Khaler, finished in double digits.
Abana led all three quarters, 25-18, 46-33 and 66-57 behind Ralphy Tablang with 32 points, Crisalino Sarigumba, Gerald Gangoso who each scored 10 points. Down by 7, 68-61, with barely 2 minutes gone in the last quarter, Gubat tightened its defense and keyed a 12-0 run to seize the lead 73-68, 5:10 left in that period behind Mancao, Agaton, Dela Rosa and Kahler. Big finishing kicks were provided by Gubat’s five negating Abana’s Tablang’s 32 points production.
Saad continued its dominance by beating ACGC, 78-70, in Inter-Company Group B. Allan Lacaba scored a personal-best 28 points, Roger Sison had 14, Marvin Andora scored 13 points while John Michael Palma and Raymund Felipe combined for 12 markers.
Other game results: Al Osais beat Mustang-HDP, 81-75, Dammam Spartan overpowered Aces Desert Storm, 80-68, Rawabi thrashed Chilis, 82-56, and Dento Plast defeated Mangiamo, 65-52.