JEDDAH, 9 April 2007 — Last night at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium complex here the Al-Jawal Basketball playoff continued with Al-Ittihad beating Al-Ansar 87-70 and Ohud defeating Al-Ahli 86-76 yesterday in the round-robins. Today Ittihad take on Ohud, while Ansar face Ahli.
In Saturday night action, Ittihad faced Ahli first. The first quarter ended with Ittihad leading by six points 22-16. The lead was reduced to four by the end of the half, Ittihad leading 41-37. The game went back and forth, but Ittihad went ahead by eight to finish the third period ahead.
There were some bad calls against Ahli, and missed calls at key moments in the game can affect the way the team plays. With the Ahli players arguing with the referee they failed to play good defense and lost. The Saudi Basketball Federation has just addressed this issue of qualified referees by bringing in an expert to rate and train the referees.
Ittihad’s power game was too much for Ahli and they held on to the lead to win 80-72. Ittihad’s Tony Madison led all with 25 points and 8 assist, Priest Lauderdale, and Jabber Al-Kabi each had 17 points. Jared Bledsoe had 19 points and Jared Merrill added 12 for Ahli.
Ohud faced Ansar in the second game. Ohud had a fast start and finished the first quarter leading 17-9. Ansar flipped the script ending the half up 32-28. Both sides missed many shots, and defense was tight. Ohud’s Calvin Cage pulled them through hitting some tough shots in the end as Ohud won 68-62. Calvin Cage led the way for Ohud with 32 points and 7 assist. Center Ismail Samaka added 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Ansar’s Jules Camara had 16 points, and Jihad Muhammad, and Ahmed Essa both had 13 points.
