MADINAH, 15 November 2006 — The Saudi Basketball Federation’s Al Jawal Championship continued Monday night at the Prince Mohammed ibn Abdul Aziz Sports City Stadium here. All three games were one sided. Al-Ittihad started the action by crushing Al-Nasr 86-33. Ittihad’s starting five were able to rest for the semifinals and their bench players got plenty of playing time. Jaber Al-Zahrani, Ittihad’s three-point specialist, was high man with 22 points.
Ohud continued the domination of the weaker teams in the second game with an 81-72 win over Al-Qadisiya.
Al-Qadisiya fought brilliantly yet at the end of the first quarter Ohud had 23 Qadisiya 13. At halftime, Ohud with 44 and Qadisiya 26 told the real story of the game. Ohud’s star Abdul Mosen played and finished with 27 points to lead all scorers. Ried Idresi tallied 22 for Qadisiya.
Al-Ahli and Al-Nahdah rounded out the night. Ahli scored 25 in the first quarter against Nahdah’s 12 points. Playing bench players along with the starters, Ahli went up by 25 points and stayed ahead to win by 75-49.
Ahli’s Khaled Dabo showed the caliber of players that we could look forward to seeing in the league and on the national team scoring 20 points. The final four is sure to be Ittihad, Ohud, Ahli, and Ansar.
Ittihad beat Ohud when Ohud were without Abdul Mosen. Ansar beat Ahli by only one point. These teams know each other, and an entertaining semifinal matches are on the cards.
