JEDDAH: Not too long ago Al Murjana had a legitimate shot at the title until it got lost in the stretch. Fast-forward to the Thursday League 16th Season for and Murjana made an early case for another try after claiming Team of the Week honors during the third session at the Bowling City here.

Using a fast start, Murjana compiled the top tally of 33 points in a towering performance that left sponsor team Sarawat Superstores a distant second on 26.5 points.

A sideshow to the team race was the three-way battle for Bowler of the Week that Rommel Cagampang eventually won over Faisal Relativo and Igna Salgado.

Cagampang of Habagat, the champion before the last conference, rolled the high series of 752 with Murjana’s Relativo on 749 and Sarawat’s Salgado on 737.

D’ Barkads returned 24 points in third place on the night followed by defending champion Saudi Master Baker-BCT 22, Salam Race 18.5 and AL Striker 17.

Despite Cagampang’s superlative effort Habagat as a team could only muster 16 points at the head the last three teams to check in that included Jem Striker 13 and Casadores 10.

Murjana won the first game and went second-second-first for the remaining two games and overall output to run away with the team honors.

Mhon Laxamana, Nap Patayan and Frank Afurong all bowled solid on 682, 659 and 638 in support of Relativo while Pancho Cuevas added 222-218 and Richard Antonio 214.

At Sarawat team Jun Palacios was chief backup to Salgado on 636 with Jay-R de Dios the other player to go three games on 587. The trio of Mohd. Al Amri, Gerry Mandanas and Dylan Ilagan each shared two games of 194-190, 192-166 and 248-176 in that order.

D’ Barkads went for a six-man rotation led by Rudy Valenzuela on 674. Leo Edejer was the second-best scorer on the team with 665 followed by Romy Bunagan 596 and James Galvan 595. Joel Nidoy tossed in 203-217 and Ed Sardiña 204-169.

After dominating the first two weeks of the competition Saudi Master Baker had a relatively low profile display that saw Archie Santos leading a quartet of 600-series scorers on 643. Rally Zamora contributed 620, Jowett Carrion made 616 and Rommel Agbayani had 612.

Sarawat Superstores, popular among Filipinos, sponsored this five-man team league event to coincide with its 36th anniversary celebration, according to organizer Salgado.

Team standings after the third week:

1. Saudi Master Baker-BCT 83.0 points 2. Al Murjana 77.0 3. D’ Barkads 69.5 4. Casadores 66.0 5. Sarawat Superstores 58.5 6. Habagat 57.5 7. Salam Rice 53.5 8. Jem Striker 50.0 9. AL Striker 46.0