JEDDAH, 3 February 2006 — Al-Ittihad beat Al-Ahli 86-80 in a top of the table clash in the Saudi Basketball Federation league Wednesday night here.
Ittihad paraded their new center Courtney Fields, who did not disappoint to score a game-high 24 points. Ali Magrabi contributed 17 points and Shamgod made 15 and dished out 8 assists, as Ittihad won the battle of the unbeatens in the tournament.
Ittihad were the better team on the night but to their credit, Ahli never gave up and came close to overturning a 14-point deficit.
After the first quarter of play the score was 20 –20, both teams scoring inside and playing tight defense. Ittihad started to dominate in the second quarter which ended at 46-40 in their favor as their three-point specialists shot five out of six from the floor.
Ittihad increased the lead in the third period to 71-62. Just as when Iittihad were threatening a blowout with a 14-point lead with five minutes left in the game Ahli broke loose and came within one point going into the last two minutes.
But great game management by Ittihad in the waning seconds made the difference.
