Sheraton Jeddah Hotel denied Saudi Catering a twice-to-beat edge by pulling off a shock 86-68 victory in their Inter-Hotel & Restaurant match at the weekend in the 2nd Nokia-Asha and 35th FBA season basketball tournament at the Sheraton Jeddah Hotel Sport Complex court here.

Only prestige was at stake in the game between teams on opposite ends of the standings. But no matter the host team played like it was the last, hitting the turn up by 16 points at 47-31.

Best Player of the game Parjam scored 22 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter, at the helm of Sheraton which made sure it bows out of the tournament not winless at 1-3. Layug added 15 points, all in the middle quarters, while Navarro finished with 14 points for Sheraton.

The erstwhile unbeaten Saudi Catering closed out its elimination round schedule at 4-1 and now waits for other games in the division to finish to determine its placing for the semifinal.

Friendster’s Inter-Commercial Open Non-rated Division team of Cris Melebo also saw its chance of a twice-to-beat evaporate after taking a 92-87 defeat from Al-Muhaidib of manager Robert de Guzman and coach MJ Ramos in the second game Thursday.

Sanchez, named Best Player of the game, scored 21 points and was chief in keeping the points coming in the payoff period for Muhaidib which improved to 2-1 in the team standings.

It was the first defeat in fives games for Friendster which also entered the centerpiece Inter-Commercial Open Rated in this 48-team 7-division tournament sponsored by Nokia.

Al Mabani bounced back from its only defeat against Intrepid with a 74-55 thrashing of Veoilia Water in the fourth game Friday.

Along with Intrepid Mabani is guaranteed of a semifinal spot in the 10-team Inter-Compnay Bonafide C. Mabani is 5-1 and Intrepid 4-0.

Angeles scored 14 points for Mabani and went on to grab Best Player honors. Guard Meting added10 points.

Week 11 of the elimination round had KIA Motors staking a claim for No. 1 in Inter-Company Bonafide A with a masterful 101-75 victory in the third game Thursday.

Four players scored in double figures, led by Best Player Cutamora with 29 points, as KIA, co-managed by Renato Sacramento and Randy Blanco, got its record to 4-1 in a tie with Jimmy Abdullah Beltran’s Toyota Sequoia. Amparado tossed in 21 points, Coronado had 16 and Soliveres 11 for KIA.

Beltran’s team won by default in its scheduled game against Gharib which failed to complete starters after the 15-minute grace period.

With its only defeat against KIA, Sequoia takes on Pepsi in the second game of another Friday quintiplebill at 6 p.m.

To headline the day’s matches is the Avengers-Jeddah United 7:30 p.m. clash in the Inter-Commercial Open Rated, with Hassan Zeineddein’s United (2-1) looking to strengthen is bid for a championship slot.

At 1-2 Avengers are fighting to stay alive and need to sweep their three second round games including Friday’s match to have any chance for a final berth.

Elsewhere, Jeddah United beat winless Tarek Rehal 62-48 in Inter-Commercial Open Non-Rated, AMI Saudi Arabia defeated Saudi Diyar (Inter-Company Bonafide C), Park Hyatt Jeddah downed Movenpick Jeddah Hotel 75-66 (Inter-Hotel & Restaurant), New Breed Al-Shaya beat ITC 96-88 (Inter-Company B) and Jeddah Eagles defeated Gulf Taleed 69-55 (Inter-Company C).