JEDDAH, 5 March 2006 — Al-Ittihad scored their second consecutive victory in two days after beating Al-Hilal 104-65 in the Saudi Basketball League on Friday at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
Ittihad starters enjoyed four players in double figures in the first half.
A passing combination among Shamgod, Ali, Steven and Jabber frustrated Hilal score more points as Ittihad finished the first quarter with 31-11, while the second period also ended in Ittihad’s favor 61-26.
Three minutes into the third period the first five were on the bench with these stats: Steven Howard 23 points, four assists and 11 rebounds; Ali Maghrabi 17 points, five assists and nine rebounds; Shamgod 10 points, seven assists, three steals and four rebounds; Jaber Al-Shamrani 17 points, six rebounds and three assists; and Adel Al-Johani eight points, five assists and six rebounds.
The benchers brought the hurrah hauling down 31 points in 17 minutes to finish the game in Ittihad’s favor.
Jamal Hunter was high man for Hilal with 23 points. James Booyer chipped in 11 points.
Second game action saw Al-Ahli overcame the deficit to beat Al-Nasr 88-57. Nasr finished first half with 19-17.
But Ahli were buoyed by a strong performance from Bobby Madison, who was once again the high man for Ahli, scoring 29 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists.
When Ahli got started, they did not let up. They finished the second half up 44 to 36. Ahli played a tight defense on Michael Sanders — Nasr’s three-point shooting guard, and held him to 14 points — the high man for Nasr.
After the third period 63 Ahli Nasr 47, the game was out of reach. The bench players took over for both teams. Ahli’s bench outscored Nasr’s 25 to 10 in the final period.
As of Friday the top six are Ittihad 30 points, Ahli 27 points, Ohod 24 points, Ansar 23 points, Qadisiya 20 points and Hilal 20 points. Two games scheduled for Monday in which Qadisiya take on Fatha while Khaleej will play against Wehda. No games will be played in Jeddah this weekend.
