Aziziah and Industrial won must-win games against Yamama and Dunes to secure the last berths in the semifinals of the Siglakas International Riyadh South District Unity Cup Basketball Tournament 2012 at the Dunes Compound Filipino Community basketball court in Olaya Thalateen area here.
Shemesy and King Fahad Hospital (KFH) had earlier booked spots in the next round.
Aziziah will meet Industrial to be followed by a clash between Shemesy and KFH in a crossover knockout format where the winners contest the title in a best-of-three championship series. The losers play a knockout game for third and fourth place.
Yamama’s bid to stay in the race ended as Aziziah squad anchored by neophyte Ariel Cunanan, table turner Edison Bien, game icebreaker Angel Bautista, Raymond Gile and Ryan Reyes fashioned a 76-72 triumph.
Both teams started strong to conclude the initial period 16-14 to Aziziah, which opened a 10-point spread, 42-32, at the halftime break.
Yamama trimmed Aziziah’s to 4 points, 51-47, to begin the final period but Aziziah proved the better team in the end.
Joel Crisostomo and Ric Buban’s Industrial team survived Dunes scare to post a 62-45 victory. Industrial featuring Jayson Canarez, Dominador Ungria, Jeffrey Perez, Jeffrey Dacasin and Darwin Costales as well as Al Capulong, Norveen Ignacio and Vicente Jaranilla raised the level of their game on both ends of the court to dominate their rivals and conclude the match in their favor.
The tournament enjoys the generous support of Bukabin-Siglakas International Riyadh South District league advisers Armando C. Ortiz Sr., Felix A. Flor, Jr. and chair persons Willy Espiritu, Ed Resurreccion, Ricardo Manlutac, Ed Sarmiento, Oscar Rico, Rene Layug, Joe Amoncio, Salvador Vargas, Albert Datijan, Paul Alcantara and Ricky Guerrero. Dunes Compound Filipino Community through Rex Badida and Ben Samson Duhaylungsod also support the tournament.
The scores:
Aziziah (76) A. Cunanan 27, E. Bien 16, A. Bautista 12, R. Gile 8, R. Reyes 7, PR Castro 4, M. Natan 2 Yamama (72) R. Vargas 18, J. Borden 18, R. Hilig 12, R. Maninang 9, D. Enriquez 8, N. Quilar 5, R. Penas 2
Industrial (62) J. Canarez 18, D. Costales 12, J. Dacasin 8, J. Perez 8, D. Ungria 7, A. Capulong 4, N. Ignacio 3, V. Jaranilla 2 Dunes (45) M. Pelagio 12, E. Icban 9, R. Dizon 7, N. Bragado 4, B. Querubin 4, J. Bugawisan 4, R. Badida 3, A. Bernardo 1, N. Permato 1
Aziziah, Industrial complete semis cast in Siglakas Unity Cup
Aziziah, Industrial complete semis cast in Siglakas Unity Cup
Arsenal stay top as City apply the pressure and Liverpool resurgence continues
- City briefly held top spot after a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest
- Liverpool’s resurgence continued with a 2-1 win of their own against last-placed Wolverhampton
MANCHESTER: Arsenal resisted a late fightback from Brighton on Saturday to keep hold of first place in the Premier League and stay ahead of Manchester City.
City briefly held top spot after a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest, but when Arsenal beat Brighton by the same score later in the day, they returned to the summit with a two-point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s team.
Liverpool’s resurgence continued with a 2-1 win of their own against last-placed Wolverhampton, who set a new Premier League record for the longest winless run from the start of a season.
Arsenal pushed by Brighton
Another set piece goal and another own goal kept Arsenal at the top of the standings — but they required an outstanding save from David Raya to deny Brighton.
Martin Odegaard gave Mikel Arteta’s team a 14th-minute lead with a low shot from the edge of the area. And when Brighton’s Georginio Rutter headed a wicked Declan Rice corner into his own net seven minutes into the second half, Arsenal were in control.
But nerves began to spread around the Emirates when Diego Gomez pulled a goal back against the run of play in the 64th minute. Yankuba Minteh then hit a shot that was destined for the top corner until Raya stretched an arm to push it away.
“Their goal changed the momentum a little bit and they pressed us toward the end, but we got the three points and that’s all that matters,” Odegaard said. “Lots of positives and still some things we can improve, but overall a good game and another win.”
Arsenal have become set piece specialists and in recent weeks have benefited from a slew of own goals, with Rutter’s the latest to prove decisive.
It was the fourth time in as many games an opponent has scored an own goal against the league leaders.
Cherki delivers for City
Rayan Cherki kept Manchester City’s Premier League title challenge powering on with a late winner at Nottingham Forest.
The France forward’s 83rd minute strike secured victory at the City Ground to make it six league wins in a row for Pep Guardiola’s team. City are on an eight-game winning run in all.
“Today is a big win,” Cherki told TNT Sports. “I’m proud of the team because this game is very complicated to win.”
It was Cherki’s second goal in three games and fifth overall. He also provided an assist with an intricate pass to Tijjani Reijnders to put City ahead three minutes into the second half.
Omari Hutchinson equalized for relegation-fighting Forest, which were holding out for a crucial point until Cherki fired through a crowded box for the winner.
Guardiola, who has won 12 league titles with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, looks like a man who believes his team is ready to regain the crown they surrendered to Liverpool last season. He joined in the celebrations with the traveling fans after the final whistle — acting conductor as they celebrated wildly after another win.
“When we won a lot of titles in Barcelona, Bayern Munich, here, you have a lot of games of this type,” he said. “The body language, how we celebrated, the connection with the fans is there.”
Liverpool win again
A fourth straight win for Liverpool and another sign that Florian Wirtz is finding his feet in England’s top flight.
Wirtz scored his first Premier League goal since joining the defending champions from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer and it proved to be decisive against Wolves.
Wirtz doubled Liverpool’s lead before halftime after Ryan Gravenberch had opened the scoring at Anfield, but Wolves halved the deficit through Santiago Bueno after the break.
“I was confident that I will score one day, but of course I wanted to start earlier, scoring and assisting,” Wirtz said. “It was like this and I have to accept it. I just know that it would come and I tried to keep going like that.”
After seeing their title defense unravel between September and November, Liverpool are now on a seven-game unbeaten run.
Wolves are on a very different run. After 18 rounds of the season the Midlands club have set a new low in the Premier League era — overtaking the record they shared with Sheffield United for the longest winless start to a campaign.
Schade leads Brentford rout
Kevin Schade scored a hat trick in Brentford’s 4-1 rout of Bournemouth.
Antoine Semenyo was on target for Bournemouth ahead of the January transfer window when he is reportedly a target for some of the Premier League’s top clubs, including Man City.
West Ham’s relegation fight was dealt a blow as Raul Jimenez scored in the 85th to seal a 1-0 win for Fulham, while second-to-bottom Burnley drew 0-0 with Everton.
