JEDDAH, 28 July 2005 — Powerhouse Algeria were poised to win the 16th Arab Basketball Tournament via a 7-game sweep after crushing Tunisia 71-59 in the semifinal last night at the General Presidency of Youth Welfare hall here.
Algeria meet Morocco in the final today. Morocco advanced to the championship round with a 77-66 victory over Jordan in the second semifinal match.
Sayed Abdul Halim shot 19 points and Boghadeer Murad added 16 as Algeria used their dominance inside the paint to score the win against Tunisia. The Algerians shot 44.75% from the floor and Tunisians 44.4%. Grabbing 29 rebounds in the first half alone and collecting four three-pointers from Bin Ramadan Ameen, Algeria shot ahead by 10 points at the end of the period 40-30.
Algeria were never seriously threatened after that taking a comfortable 57-46 spread at the end of the third quarter.
M. Al Mabrouk and Hamdi Bin Sharef each had 12 points to lead Tunisia.
Morocco took control after a tight first half battle with the fancied Jordan who jumped out to a 14-4 lead at the start of the game.
Patiently, Morocco ate away at Jordan’s lead. After the first quarter Jordan still led at 17-16. They maintained the initiative at halftime 36-34 before Morocco poured on the heat and finished the third quarter on top at 57-50.
Morocco ended up with 65% shooting from the floor, but it was their pressure defense in the fourth period that won the day. M. Al Matlabi scored 21 points and M. Khalgi added 12 for Morocco.
Jordan, with only 39% field goal conversions, drew 20 points from Musa Al Awadi and 16 from Ayman Dies.
