JEDDAH, 5 April 2006 — Al-Ittihad remained alive in the Saudi Basketball playoffs Monday night with a 63-52 victory against Al-Ansar at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
Ittihad evened the series against Ansar at one game each.
But another Madinah ballclub with a rich basketball tradition, Ohod, had no such luck. They were dumped out of the competition following an 81-69 defeat by Al-Ahli.
In a low scoring tough match where four of the five starters finished with double figures Ittihad stopped Ansar’s big guns. Jules Aw was held to 12 points, Ahmed Essa 7 and Hitem Banawee 3.
Mohamed Kinata kept Ansar in the game with 24 points. The first half was fast paced ending with Ittihad up 49-35. Both teams were missing their outside shots. They were running up and down the floor with no results.
Ittihad had an eight-point lead and made seven turnovers in the first quarter. Ansar had lost the ball a few times themselves. Fouls played a role for each team missing about half the foul shots taken. It showed how tired the players are.
The second half was worse. Ittihad scored only 14 points and Ansar 17 thus the final low total. Ali Mughrabi and Steven Howard each had 16, while Yaya Iberheim and Michael Sanders each made 11 for Ittihad.
Damon Forney was the man for Ahli scoring over 20 points beating Ohod 77-56. Ohod led in the first period 23 to 16 but good shooting and fast breaks by Ahli wiped out the lead. Abdul Moshen was off his game not scoring like always for Ohod. Perhaps it was the defense that Ahil threw their way that made the difference.
