BY EARL WRIGHT

JEDDAH — Egyptian basketball team got a win it didn’t need and gave Souriana, which had been dead for 40 minutes, a new lease of life and free ride into the semifinals at the end of a wild final week of eliminations in the Sportainment Basketball Tournament at the Jeddah United court in Alshati district here.

Only national pride was on the line and yet the Egyptians, with fire in their eyes, set out to avenge their first elimination round defeat to the Filipino side, BRC, in the second game Friday.

Earlier in the day, Souriana was down and out after blowing a 16-point lead and losing to Lebanon 59-56 in the game of death that was set following Thursday’s games.

As the winner Lebanon was rewarded with a spot in the semis, it heaved a sigh of relief after a rollercoaster performance, while Souriana, deemed dead, had to anxiously wait for the result of the second game to determine its fate.

Forty or so minutes later, Souriana was “born again” as the fourth qualifier, courtesy of Egypt which hammered BRC into submission in an 82-69 decision that forced an identical 3-5 win-loss card for Souriana and BRC. The winner-over-the-other rule to break the tie favored Souriana having won twice to oust BRC.

The weekend started with Jeddah United the only team guaranteed of a spot in the final four of the compact tournament featuring the best Arab and Filipino players representing their home countries.

On Thursday, Egypt followed JU into the semifinals by muzzling Lebanon in the end game battle to score a thrilling 75-72 victory, as the hardworking Hamdy scored 24 points including six of the Egyptians’ last 10 points.

Lebanon battled to the end but a costly turnover by point guard Ahmad Kheir and a completed steal by Hamdy in the closing seconds doomed its own chance to get into the knockout round. Instead it was Egypt that advanced with its second straight elimination round win over Lebanon.

The second game Thursday was a must-win for BRC but non-bearing one for its opponent Jeddah United.

With Adam and Khalid Baghdadi back to reinforce the team, BRC made basketball look easy to administer a thorough beating on JU 92-61. It was the largest winning margin by any team in the tournament,

Enjoying a superb shooting night, BRC had Rey Razon topscoring with 29 points. Baghdadi and Basa each added 18 points while Adam contributed 11 for manager Rey Sarili’s team put together by playing coach Jumbo Rebulado.

As sharp as Razon was in this game, against Egypt nothing seemed to work for him, while on the opposite end Best Player of the game Abdulgafar nicknamed “Forma” had a field day to finish with 16 points including three three-pointers. Fawzi led Egypt with 21 points.

Jumping out to an 18-4 start, Souriana twice led by 16 points at 31-15, on a field goal and two free throws by Ahmad Khorbatly, and at 33-17 to end the second quarter.

The complexion of the game began to change after Khorbatly received a hard foul from Kheir and the Souriana hotshot had to be carried off the court, time down to 3:48 in the third quarter.

The Lebanese rallied and tied the game at 50-all, setting the stage for an interesting battle down the wire.

Big Mahmoud Zureig, Wabel Dandashi and Hassan Daher delivered the points for Lebanon at crunch time as Souriana’s Kermo and Walid Khattab missed attempts in the last 35 seconds. Consul General Ali Karnouh attended the match and joined the Lebanese players in the celebration at the final buzzer.

Final team standings after the double-round robin eliminations: 1. Jeddah United 5-3, 2. Egypt 5-3, 3. Lebanon 4-4, 4. Souriana 3-5, 5. BRC 3-5.