Roy Lura, a former Cebu Gems' player in the defunct MBA league in the Philippines, led all scorers with 35 points, including 10 rebounds, 6 steals and 3 assists in spearheading UAE Exchange/OPBL's lopsided 103-84 win over Al Rawabi/Road Builders in the PBA Dubai 8th Conference elimination series at the Al Wasl Club.

Just barely 12 hours after arriving from Manila, Lura showed no ill-effects of a jetlag as his team led 50-41 in the first half.

Six other individual players contributed double-digit scores apiece - Sonny Turing (14), Juvy Yu (13), Gani Mercado (11), Dino Manuel and John Montalbo (10) as Bernie Cinco's Abu Dhabi-based team performed to precision.

"I did not expect Lura, Turing and Mercado to come up with what they have spectacularly shown in this game because they lacked sleep and had no time to adjust to the time difference," team manager Cinco said.

"Besides, the team had not practiced yet with them. But I tip my hat to the entire team as they did their job with much beyond expectations," he added.

Richie Azarcon led Al Rawabi with 23 points, Torres 18, Villegas 14, Epifanio and F. Bungabong added 10 points apiece.

In the other matches, Cabalen Aguman/Arabian Shipchandlers beat Swiss Transport 100-93; Fairmont won 75-57 over Dusit Hotel and Jumeirah International scraped passed J.W. Marriott 88-84.

In the Class B division, Network Marketing beat GEM/Electromechanics 93-86, Al Ghurair Exchange/Quartaj won by the skin of their teeth 66-65 over Dubai/Digital Clues.

The PBA 8th all-Filipino major basketball tournament and inter-hotel basketball league is sponsored by ABS-CBN (The Filipino Channel).

Friday's games: (9 am) IBIS/Novotel vs Le Meridien Dubai; (10.50 am) Sands Contracting vs D. Nicholson's/Gintong Hatid; (12.35 pm) Crown Plaza vs Metropolitan; (2.30 pm) Al Wasl Travels vs Dubai Drydocks; (4.30 pm) Masaood John Brown vs Ferrari Sports; (6.30 pm) Gimik vs UAE Exchange.