By CHRIS PANGANIBAN

Photoshoot by: Erickson Ocampo 

 

 

 

DOHA: Four teams are expected to be in a mad scramble for position in the quarterfinal rounds as they now all share a three wins-three losses record at the end of the eliminations of the Western Union Cup 2012, presented by McDonald's Qatar and powered by Alicafe of Pinoy Basketball of Qatar (PIBAQ).

The four-way tie in the standings in the Division A of the league came up after Al Suwaidi Enterprises-KBAS pulled a surprise win against defending champion KIA Motors, 91-81, in their game over the weekend at the Al Gharafa Training Gym.

The one-game only quarterfinals scheduled on May 25  will see four teams, Team Creations and Concepts, Askar Industries-One Family,  Al Suwaidi-KBAS, and KIA Motors slugging it out to stay alive in the semifinal rounds.

League leaders August Tailoring and Qatar Kentz are safely waiting for their possible opponents in the three games series semifinals having shared a good standing of four wins and two losses record.

Al Suwaidi has showed more intensity and determination to win in the last elimination game against KIA Motors which was led by big man center Bong Caballero who contributed a big 36 points to lift his team into the much-needed victory .

On the other hand, reliable point guard Eric Tamayo of KIA Motors can not deliver  a good momentum in his kind of play and at many times all throughout the game missed a lot of easy baskets even from the bonus free throws.

Al Suwaidi Head Coach Rommel Magnayon was obviously seen to be convinced with the way his boys had excellently played especially Caballero whose tantrums never showed up and displayed a very cool kind of play.

Meanwhile, the games at the Division B also started to heat up and would be expected to be at the boiling point on Friday when their own version of elimination rounds will end.

The win by QDVC LRT over defending champion IMCO Engineering, 86-83, had put all the other four running teams in a precarious situation going into the quarterfinal rounds.

In another hotly-contested game, Ayatollah Guro of league leader Al Emadi Enterprises was slapped with a one game suspension last Friday after he and a player from opposing Al-Nawaktha Manpower team figured in a near brawl. Al Emadi won, 78-70, to remain spotless with seven wins and no loss record.