The Saudi Lebanese Tarouk team of coach Jun Dela Cruz beat surprisingly strong contender, Al Hokair Group of Rizaldy Datu, 129-109 in an Inter-Company Division game during the ninth week of the Juffali Basketball League at the Juffali Compound court on Khurais Road near here.

Cordero scored 54 big points, the highest individual output so far in the league, to lead a massive show of firepower by Tarouk which improved its record to 5-2 in the team standings behind Hokair (5-1). The defeat derailed the march of Hokair to the semifinals.

Tarouk started the first quarter with a big 13-point lead, 29-16, courtesy of Cordero and Barral who tallied 13 and 8 points in the period respectively.

De Leon of Al Hokair sizzled in the second quarter to score 11 points for his team, but it was answered on the other end by Gocela who hit 8 points to go with 2 three-pointers.

Cordero with 6 more points increased the Tarouk lead to 27 points at the end of the second quarter, 60-33. Although Hokair outscored Tarouk in the third quarter (32-25), the gap was still huge at 85-65 in Tarouk’s favor.

Al Hokair’s De Leon and Canas combined for 30 points during the last quarter but Cordero struck back with 27 big points to keep the big lead till the end, 129-109.

Barral had 20 and 2 steals for Tarouk while Gocela contributed 19 points.

For Hokair, De Leon scored a team-high 49 while Canas added18 points with 4 triples and a rebound.

In another game in the Inter-Automotive division, United Motors of Rene Caballes clinced its third win at the expense of Petromin B 89-81.

The winners dictated the tempo from first to the last quarter maintaining two and four-point advantage in the a foul-laden game.

Ma led the scoring for the winners with 27 points followed by Sison 18. Barnuevo and Romero each had 12. For the losing side, Camana had 25 and Alvarez 24.

United Motors now shares a 3-1 win-loss record with Al Jomaih at second spot in the team standings, behind Jaco (4-1).

Team standings after the ninth week:

Inter –Company: Al Hokair 5-1, Saudi Lebanese Tarouk 5-2, Saudi Ericsson 4-1, Petromin A 4-2, Panda 3-1, KAFD 3-2, Pizza Inn 2-5, Coffee Essence 1-4, DHL 0-5, Al Hukaime 0-6

Inter-Automotive: Jaco 4-1, Al Jomaih 3-1, United Motors 3-1, Petromin B 2-2, Jaguar 1-4, Volvo 0-1, Samaco 0-4

Inter-Department: Saudi Ericsson 2-0, Al Bazai 2-0, Jamed 2-1, Maybach 1-2 and Al Wahlan 1-3