JEDDAH, 18 May 2007 — Defending champions Al-Riadi from Lebanon and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad guaranteed themselves at least a tie for one of two semifinal berths from their groups by scoring their second straight victories yesterday in the ART sponsored Arab Basketball Confederation Championship at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
Al-Riadi ran out 106-92 winners over another Saudi team, Al-Ahli in Group 2 where UAE’s Sharjah bounced back from an opening quarterfinal round defeat with a 93-87 victory over Qatar’s Al-Arabi in the second game yesterday.
Ittihad saved the day for the Kingdom when the brought down Kuwait of Kuwait 97-89 in a Group 1 encounter.
Al-Jazirah of Egypt brought down Morocco’s Raja’a 84-64 in a Group 2 battle between teams who dropped their first games in the round of eight.
The Egyptians outscored Morocco every quarter on their way to the win. Morocco had a poor shooting night making only one three point shot out of 15 attempts. Egypt’s high scorers were Ahmed Mohamed Al Bari with 16 points and Rami Talat Genaidi with 15 points.
For Morocco Hilal Munnir had 17 points.
The Sharjah-Arabi game was a cliffhanger. Qatar started strong leading most of the first period finishing up by 9 23 -14. Their lead dwindled down to 5 by halftime 46-41. The duo of Andre Pitts and Wayne Powell combined for 59 points. Pitts had 32 and Powell 27. They hit some great shots in the last 2 minuets sealing the victory for Sharjaah. Al Arabi’s Musa Daoud had 20 and Boney Watson had 17 points for the night. Arabi absorbed their second straight defeat.
Riadi pulled away in the fourth quarter to win on the shoulders of Ace Custus, who scored three of his six three-point baskets in the period. He finished the game with 37 points. Ahli stayed close and were down by three at the end of first quarter 25-22. At the half, Lebanon led by two 53-51. Good passing and inside play made the difference for Lebanon who received 23 points from Alvin Sims and 19 from Ismail Ahmed. Ahli’s Kurtis Heywood scored 32 and Jamel Staten 20.
