JEDDAH, 6 June 2006 — Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad disposed of Young Cagers 107-79 in the quarterfinals of the 17th Asian Club Basketball Championship in Fag’han Hilal Al-Mutairi court in Al-Qadisia club in Kuwait.
With the victory, Ittihad advanced to a semifinal meeting today against Jalaa’ of Syria who brushed aside Iran’s Saba Battery 87-68. The other semifinal contest will pit Fastlink of Jordan against Qatar’s Al-Rayyan, who respectively beat Sagesse of Lebanon 91-78 and hosts Al-Qadisia 68-65.
After their dismal performance in the 1st round India’s Young Cagers have not yet re-energized themselves as they made many turnovers in the game. Ittihad were simply superb in their approach, putting pressure on their opponents, stealing the ball, scoring in the paint.
Young Cagers still struggled hard to put points on the board. Ittihad played their reserves most of the game. They held Young Cagers to 9 points in the third quarter.
Fastlink 91 Sagesse 78: In a tough game between the two teams, Fastlink finally succeeded to beat Sagesse in the opening game of quarterfinal. Both teams fought an even battle in the first quarter although Jerod Ward of Sagesse had a great performance. Also, Fadi El Khatib played well in this game. But Fastlink players began to take over the game starring Sam Daghlas, Nate Johnson, Enver Soobzokov and Zaid Al-Khas.
Leading scorers for Fastlink were Nate Johnson 22 points, Damien Cantrell 19, Zaid Al-Khas 18, Enver Soobzokov 14 and Sam Daghlas 10 points. Top scorers for Sagesse: Jerod Ward 28 points, Alvin Sims 21 and Fadi El Khatib 17 points.
Al-Rayyan 68 Al-Qadisia 65: The game was really close till the last seconds. After lagging behind in the first period Qadisia came back very strong and fought hard to the end.
Leading Al-Rayyan were Eric Chatfield with 25 points, William Knight with 22.
Scorers for Al-Qadisia: Abdallah Al-Sarraf 18 points, Virgil Stanescu 16, Marijonas Petravicius 12 and Abdel-Aziz Dari 10 points.
Al-Jalaa’ 87, Saba Battery 68: The leading scorers for Al-Jalaa’ were Michel Madanli 23 points, Julius Nwosu 18, Ace Custis 16 and Sharif Al-Sharif 16 points. Scoring for Saba were Hamed Afagh 18 points, Garth Joseph 12, Babak Nizafat 11 and Behzad Afradi 10 points.
