JEDDAH — Al-Ittihad racked up their 11th victory, blasting Arabi 78-58 in the Saudi Basketball Federation’s AlJawal tournament Friday night at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal sports complex here.
Ittihad used the one-sided game to give plenty of playing time to the bench players as the team geared up for a potentially explosive match-up against undefeated Ansar again in week 11 of the tournament.
If Ittihad stays healthy and win their remaining games, and Ansar slip s and lose one game, the season could come down to the team with the highest point total.
The same goes for Ahli who have the same win-loss record as Ittihad.
Ansar are leading on defense, and Ittihad lead in points scored which in case of a tie will determine the winner. Ahli hold down the third spot and is third in defense and fourth in points scored.
The second game of the night was a cliffhanger between Ahli and Fath. At the end of the first period Ahli were up by one 24-23.
Fath would not simply lie down and roll over and at the end of the half, the score was tied at 47-47.
Most of the scoring was done close to the basket. The lead changed hands almost after every basket and after three quarters Ahli managed a two-point lead 63-61.
With four minutes left in the game Ahli broke away hitting the three-point shot, five of them in the period to edge out Fath 77-70. Import player Kareem Grant led Ahli scoring 18 points. Osman Obaid hit two of the threes down the stretch and finished with 17 points.
Damon Forney hit 16 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had 4 assists. Fath’s import players Jermain Lewis hit 21 points, and Earl Ike had 18 points.
