JEDDAH, 4 April 2008 — The Saudi Basketball Federation Elite 8 Playoffs continued last night at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal sports complex here after the tragic death of Al-Ittihad’s import player American Marvin Stone.
Play resumed with Ittihad and Ohud locking horns in the third game of the best-of-three semifinals. Ohud started playing well, getting good ball movement and going on to score a 90-87 victory that sealed their spot in the finals opposite Al-Hilal. Hilal had earlier swept a separate semifinal series against Fath.
Ohud took an early lead in the first period 24 -21. Ohud increased the lead at the end of the first half to 47-35. Ohud played good team ball and kept a double-digit lead ending the third quarter up 74-61.
In the fourth period, Ittihad rallied but it was too late. Waleed hit a three in the last minute, and Daly Jones hit a three with 50 seconds left. Mahmood Abdul Rauf answered with a three, then Ittihad missed two attempts to tie the game in the last five seconds.
Ohud’s point guard, import Jihad Mohammad, scored 38 points and he was unstoppable driving to the basket and racking up 9 assists. Suliman Camera added 25 points and Daly Jones had 17. For Ittihad Abdul Rauf hit 21 points, Ali Maghrabi 18, Jay Ward 13, and Bubaka Camera 15. Today the first game is at 6 p.m. for third place between Ittihad against Fath. Hilal and Ohud open their best-of-three title playoffs at 8 p.m.
