UAE Exchange pull off convincing victory

Former MBA star Roy Lura registered a career-high individual total of 42 points to guide UAE Exchange past the highly-favoured Mediacom/Lecebisa/Digital Clues in the PBA 9th Conference Basketball at the Al Wasl Club last week.

Lura was simply the player of the evening as the Abu Dhabi-based UAE Exchange saw their opponents faltering to a 69-79 defeat.

It was Lura who, almost single-handedly controlled and dictated the tempo of the game as he excelled in everything he got his hands on assists, rebounds and scoring from virtually any angle to put UAE Exchange among the early favourites for the title this year.

UAE Exchange coach Don Robles attributed the win to timely player rotation as also sticking to their original game plan. The win was sweet revenge for UAE Exchange following their loss to Lecebisa/Mediacom in the first round of the conference last month.

The encounter was like a one-on-one contest between Jess Binongo, a former MBA player in Manila debuting for Mediacom/Lecebisa and Lura. And as the scores indicated, Lura took this honour as well as Binongo managed only 21 points compared to Lura's 42.

Roma Parvaz/Moneygram/Maharlika demolished crowd favourite Swift Hotdogs 96-68 to register their first win in the second round of the elimination series in another Class A match.

Lito Saygo teamed up well with Edwin Pimentel and Gucci Gutierrez for their lopsided win.

The Swift Hotdogs did not give in easily though as they came to within three points in the third quarter following a combined thrust from Arnold Aguila, Manny Balingit and Alex Callueng.

But Maharlika stepped up their game in the final quarter to finally end with a 28-point margin at 96-68.

Fixtures

Friday's matches: (9am) Fairmont Hotel v JW Marriott; (10.50am); Philippines Car Showroom v Masaood John Brown; (12.40pm) I Remit v Leader Sport; (2.30pm) Swift Hotdogs v UAE Exchange; (4.40pm) Crowne Plaza Dubai v Hyatt Dubai; (6.30pm) Mediacom/Lecebisa/Digital Clues v Al Wasl Travels.