JEDDAH, 8 February — Sweet-shooting Gary Talastas scored 29 points in just 25 minutes of action as Miyabe Abe cut short Jeddah Knightz stint, 93-73, and entered the semifinals of the Safari-Metal Work Friendship Games at the Safari Astrodome.
The Cabalen black shirts were determined to nail a semifinals seat by coming in full force, noticeably a further upgrade in El Khereiji standout Renz Chao, in contrast to the Jeddah Knightz whose gallop came to a dismal halt when its key players disappeared from the all-important match.
Topboard artist A. Manaloto added 18 and Chao 12 for Miyabe Abe’s victory bringing their elimination card to 5-2 joining early semifinalist Mersal-Jungleland. The losing Jeddah Knightz were paced by Jim Tomas with 22 points while J. Acebuque, P. San Diego and Pons Suarez combined for 42 points but badly missed the services of Samartina, Nabus and Villanueva.
In a virtual sudden-death match-up Gillette Mach3 go up against Engineering Jeddah Thai, with the winners advancing to semifinals along with PD-Michelin who heaved a sigh of relief on the unhorsing of the Jeddah Knightz by the Cabalens.
PD-Michelin (4-3) enjoys a plus 1 quotient. Engineering (3-3) has a standing quotient of plus 8 before they meet the Blademakers. The match-up story of the three teams show that PD-Michelin won over Gilette, 92-83. Engineering on the other hand secured a 79-71 victory over the tire makers. Hence, although Gillette has a 4-2 card, it needs to win against Jeddah Thai to avoid ending up in three-way 4-3 tie where it is certain to be booted out since it has a negative 8 quotient relative to the teams involved.
Safari Co. Ltd. project manager Abdullah Shamasi who with the camp management headed by Gamal Bushara and Mr. Bobby Victoriano were responsible for improving the Safari Astrodome is the principal sponsor of the SBA Friendship Games. The other principal sponsor is Metal Work Co. under Mohammed Ali Badreddine.
