RIYADH, 24 January 2003 — The vibrant Howard Johnson Plaza returned to the center stage with full confidence to post their chance to beat the Riyadh Palace Hotel in the second stage of the semifinal round of the 15th Inter-Hotel Basketball Tournament 2002 Fila Challenge Cup, sponsored by SODAS Sports, the sole distributor of Fila shoes in the Kingdom. But still, the Riyadh Palace team composed of the twin towers Michihan and Ali Bashir, running Moussa, Abdullah and Joshan dominated the board to post their second straight win.
Javellana and Payumo of the Howard Johnson desperate time beating 3-pts. Shots in the dying seconds to equalized the scores from 87-84 missed their shots and give the Riyadh Palace Hotel a chance to play for the finals.
In the second game between Sheraton Hotels and Towers and the depending champions Sixcontinents was another delight to watch, at the start, Sheraton Hotel team pulling away with a series of fast breaks and a couple of jump shot around the paint that gives them to lead all the way to the last quarter and thrilling the game on the last 5 minutes holding the score of 76-66 , Sixcon did not stop the shooting prowess of the Rookie Robert Singue of Sheraton Towers. Sixcon Head Coach Victor Edan calls for a time-out with 4:27 left on the 4th quarter and given his instructions to his team. At the resumption of the game, Defensive player Ayyan Dibaratun and Van Roble made a back-to-back 3-pts shots to give the Sixcon team a chance to win the game at the score of 76-75 a one point lead by the Sheraton Towers with 1:47 minutes to go, Team Captain of Sixcon Neo Egamino intercepted the ball from Vhoi Morales and takes a running shot which gives the Sixcon a one point lead with 12 seconds remaining on the game clock in a 76-77, at the imbound, Robert Singue received the ball from Rene Delos Reyes and tried for a basket but Neo Egamino fished a duty foul that paved the way for Singueto a shot from the free throw line and made a two points shots which give the Sheraton Towers a hairline lead with a final score of 78-77. The win by Sheraton Towers enable them to get the chance for the finals.
Scores:
Game One:
Riyadh Palace (87)Michihan 21 pts, Moussa 18 pts, Ali Basher 15 pts, Joshan 15 pts, Sharhelly 10 pts, Abdullah 8 pts. Howard Johnson (84) Payumo 18 pts, Punzalan 17 pts, Zaballa 17 pts, Javellana 13 pts, Sison 10 pts, Fabro 9 pts.
Game Two:
Sheraton Towers (78) Singue 22 pts, Capati 18 pts, Kabani 14 pts, Morales 10 pts, Lagman 6 pts, Delos Reyes 4 pts. Sixcon (77) Dibaratun 23 pts, Roble 21 pts, Egamino 15 pts, Sanchez 8 pts.
Ref: Robert Pineda and Jun Valenzuela. (Asif Saleem)
