JEDDAH, 13 March 2008 — Al-Ahli evened the season against their arch foes Al-Ittihad with a down to the wire 77-74 victory in the AlJawal Basketball League at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal sports complex on Monday night.
The game was a battle royal from the start, with tight defense and many turnovers. The lead changed hands and neither team could stay in the lead for long.
In the last minutes Ahli’s inside game won out and they held on to win. Ahli’s Joe Webb had 18 points, Anton Thesbi had 16, and Yassar Mutar 10 to lead the team.
Ittihad were without Ali Magrabi, out for the rest of the tournament because of a violation over the weekend against the referees. As a result Ittihad were outmatched under the basket.
Mahmood Abdul Rauf had a great first half scoring 14 points but with an agitated hamstring only hit one shot in the second half and finished with 17 points.
Jaber Al Kabri had 16 and kept Ittihad in the game. In other games on Monday, Fath beat Masera 111-97.
Thursday and Friday in Riyadh Hilal defeated Ittihad 74-69 and Ahli 91-73 to take over fifth place in the Saudi Basketball Federation standings.
The 10th week of the Al Jawal Basketball tournament results almost guarantee Ansar winning the season.
With only three games left to play for Ansar and Ohud, only Ohud could catch them if they win all three of their games against Ansar, Ittihad, and Ahli. Ittihad are in third place and Ahli fourth. Ohud are in second place. Ansar’s magic number is one win and they clinch the season.
Hilal, Fath, Qadisia, and Wehda with three games to play round out the top eight.
