Palm Cafe blame ref for defeat

PALM CAFE'S coach felt that ABMS had six players on the court during Sunday's final of the LBC Cup regular seven stars category.

ABMS won the championship match 94-82 at the Brunei Basketball Association court in Batu Bersurat in a match which they led in all four quarters, but sitting alone on the bench after the final buzzer, the dejected Lito Porlahe refused to accept the defeat.

Palm Cafe beat ABMS 96-78 on Nov 15 in a game which many rightly predicted was a preview of the final, and there was no doubt that Porlahe was disappointed his team could not make it count when it mattered the most.

"It was very difficult for us, the referee was just not fair," said the playing coach.

"There were calls against Leones (guard Geve Leones) which should not have been given and we had many charging fouls against us which were not awarded.

"Our star players like Leones and Requintin (forward Elvin Requintin) came late and the match had already started by the time they arrived, so it was too hard to come back.

"How could we win like that?" he sighed.

It came as no surprise that ABMS's coach did not share his counterpart's sentiments.

"I do not think the referee was on our side," said Kaka Espartero during an interview with The Brunei Times yesterday.

"It was the same thing for us, we had many calls that went against us," he said.

Named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Philippine Independence Basketball Cup back in June, Leones scored a game-high 33 points for Palm Cafe on Sunday and was also instrumental in their successful 3rd Manjaro Cup campaign in October.

Don Dadis Mordeno was ABMS's best player, distributing the ball well and contributing 30 points to the win.

Down 22-17 after the first quarter, Palm Cafe trailed 49-36 at the end of the second period.

A drought by ABMS saw Palm Cafe pull to within five points mid-way through the third period, and they entered the fourth and final stanza down only three points (67-64).

But ABMS's defence stood firm in the final 10 minutes and their on-court communication perfected when they won the 2009 Brunei Pepsi Cup in August earned them the well-deserved victory.

ABMS qualified for the championship match after beating GILR Wildcats 105-83 in the semi-final while Palm Cafe defeated Aziz Latif and Company (ALC) 99-82.

GILR Wildcats saw off Aziz Latif and Company 94-68 to finish third.

In the 45 years old and above category, Young Once defeated MK Super Kids 67-45 to emerge champions last Thursday while IMD B beat Nueva Ecija Patriot 77-69 to finish third.The Brunei Times