Jeddah United, Friendster-2 seal title clash; Silencer-2 in final

Mohannad Amri led a young Jeddah United team to a thrilling 95-87 victory in overtime over AVK Wild Boys to reach the final of the Inter-Commercial Open Non-Rated Division in the 2nd Nokia-Asha and 35th FBA season basketball tournament that draws to a close with a quaruplebill Friday including three finals at the Sheraton Jeddah Hotel Sport Complex court.
Mohannad finished the night with 28 points, 17 of them in the fourth quarter and overtime, as coach Mohammad Shobain’s United squad refused to fold when it trailed by 12 points after leading by the same margin in the first quarter and closed out the wild and wooly contest last Friday with a 20-12 tear in the extra period.
United scored all but two of the game’s first 11 points in the overtime courtesy of Mohannad, Hussam Makdisi, Al-Harbi and Shobain and when AVK threatened at 84-82 with 2:27 to play Mohannad pulled down two defensive rebounds and had a completed steal before Makdisi scored to ease the pressure on United, 91-82 with 1:18 left. United is one of three Arab teams entered in the tournament along with its sister team in Open Rated and Jeddah Eagles.
United erased a 64-52 deficit to start the fourth quarter to tie the game at 67-all and for a while it looked to have the game in the bag after TJ gave his team a 3-point lead at 75-72 with 17 ticks left.
But Dormiendo hit a desperation three-pointer at the top of the key to force overtime, 75-all, after point guard Dawood missed a potential game clincher with three seconds left.
Shobain scored 21 points, promising Dawood had 14, Makdisi 11 while Mohannad’s brother Ahmad, given a break by the coach with more minutes on the court, contributed 5 points. TJ, the only player who is more than 21 years old, had 6.
AVK’s Dula led all scorers with 29 points, Pugao had 18 and Regonduna 15.
Jeddah United played Friendster-2 in the knockout final Thursday night.
Friendster-2 set up a clash with Jeddah United when it methodically brought down Al Muhaidib 82-70 in the other semifinal earlier Friday.
Unlike United Friendster had no problem disposing of Muhaidib, leading by as many as 20 points, 58-38, in the third quarter.
Meantime, the best-of-three series for the Inter-Commercial Open Rated championship has been abandoned and the FBA Organizing Committee ordered a one-game knockout final between Friendster and Spicy Fingers Explosive Friday at 10 p.m. as a result of the tumultuous Game 2 last Friday.
The game was stopped with Friendster up by 1, 61-60, and the remaining time at 5:56 in the fourth quarter because of a controversy in the officiating.
Elsewhere in Week 18, Silencer 2 put New Breed Al-Shaya in its place with an emphatic 107-84 triumph in a winner-take-all semifinal in Inter-Company Bonafide Division B. New Breed forced Silencer 2 to use up its twice-to-beat edge by beating its rival 86-83 the previous week.
Knockout games for third and fourth place saw Fakeeh Hospital beat Saudi German Hospital 81-58 in Inter-Hospita Reinforced and Saudia Catering defeat Park Hyatt Jeddah 74-68 in Inter-Hotel & Restaurant.
Nokia Asha is the major sponsor of the most prestigious and longest running tournament in this side of basketball town. Gulf Bridge Eppolight, Faris Group, House of Donuts and Lifestylez are co-sponsors. Also coming on board as co-sponsor through Branch Manager Jesjam Abo Elenin is Azal World, distributor of Main ‘n Tail products, popular among Filipinos, in the Kingdom.
In Friday’s other final games, KFAFH plays Salam Home Healthcare at 7 p.m and ALJ-UIS Toyota Sequoia faces KIA AT 8:30 p.m.