Tournament darkhorse team Choppers and Ilocandia Bulls improved their positions after beating respective opponents, Sunday in the ongoing 2012 season of the Filipino Basketball League at the Palau National gym.

Showing their “never say die” attitude, team Choppers went on to humble team Jaguars, 80-76. Down 76-73 with just less than one minute remaining in the fourth quarter, the Choppers went to Bon-Bon Pramo who went for a three point shot but was fouled.

Pramo drilled all his free throw to tie the game at 76-all with seconds remaining in the game. Then, Eric Dedeles took matters into his hand as he scored on a step back three point shot to give them a 79-76 edge. With time expiring, Freddie Gloria placed the icing on the cake as he split his free throws that gave them the win.

Pramo led the scoring chores with 33 points while teammate Erwin Gonzalgo added 22 as they now sport a 6-4 win-loss record in the team standings. Shooter Bong Montel paced the Jaguars with 14 but was not enough to fuel them till the end as they suffered their 9th lost for a 2-9 card.

On the other hand, the Ilocandia Bulls came on fire as they turned back Hanpa Cardinals, 88-75. The duo of Raul Osias and Joeger Supnet gave the Bulls the needed fire power as they finished the game with 28 and 25 markers, respectively.

With the win, the Bulls improved their mark with a 7-4 record while the Cardinals are 4-8 despite the 21 point performance of Raymund Tan.

In other games, Western Union drubbed Rams/Guardians, 106-74 while 9-Balls Friendster defeated Ocean View/PCGM, 85-62 to take Game One of the their best of three play off series in the Master’s League.

Games will resume on July 6 with FR Spoilers versus Hanpa Cardinals at 11 a.m. followed by the Master’s League feature D’Originals taking on FR Spoilers at 12:30 p.m. as Rams/Guardians will meet Surangel and Sons at 2 p.m. while Western Union will deal with the Jaguars in the main game at 3:30 p.m.

This year’s FBL sponsors are ATT Karaoke Disco Bar, Aqua Pure Water, Blue Bay Petroleum, Budget Mart 1 and 2, CTSI Logistics, FR Construction, GF Automotive, Hanpa Industries, HBO Company, Kabayan Restaurant, Kramers, MJ Trading, Ngeremlengui Quarry, Ocean View/ABA, Palau Curtain, PDC, Pinoy Express Remittance, Pinoy Restaurant, PNQ, Roll’EM Productions/OTV, Sams Tours, Sea View KTV, Shimbros Inc., Socio-Micronesia, Surangel and Sons, The Taj, VMJ Construction, WCTC, Engr. Bobby Pineda, Jun dela Cruz, Koki Beech, Terry Li Hong, Engr. Ogi Pineda, Engr. Ben Asuncion and TFCP executive and board officers.   By Peter Erick L. Magbanua (Island Times News)