JEDDAH, 5 October 2007 — Wednesday night the finals of the sixth annual Panasonic-Burger King Three-on-three Basketball Tournament was held in front of Burger King and Starbucks on Prince Sultan at Iceland here. The two finalists were Amin’s Giants and Nadeem’s Ittihad.
The Giants beat the Saddik Boys 9-8 to get into the finals and Ittihad defeated Al-Kattab 21-9 to earn their berth. Ittihad took the lead and looked good in the first five minuets of the game. Abdulaziz hit a couple of threes, Raed hit from outside and a layup.
Mustafa hit two foul shots. Then the Giants got serious. Chris hit a three, Jeremiah made some inside shots and Amin hit inside. The score was knotted at 9. They traded baskets until the last seconds when the Giants tied it at 13-13 sending the game into overtime. The next five minutes were exciting with the Giants’ Amin trying for the last shot as time ran out. Ittihad pulled out a 19-18 victory over the Giants. Other events of the night were the exhibition games and the physically challenged wheelchair game organized by referee Mohammad Helmi. Publicis Graphics donated SR5,000 to their foundation.
Al-Ahli and Ittihad’s juniors played a fast paced game for the crowd.
Ahli had the lead at half time 15-8 and went on to win the game by two points 21-19. Obaid Madani and coach Umar’s Jeddah United All Stars beat coach Amin’s Faisal Park All Stars 15-11. The sponsors for the 10-day event were Panasonic, Burger King, Mini Cooper, IQRA TV, Al Hayat News, and Arriyadia. The organizer Publicis Graphics thanked Abdul Bary Lary from the Saudi Basketball Federation, Hassan Abdullah from Ittihad Club, Captain Assad, former national team captain, national team coach Abdul Rahman, and Obaid Madani, coach Umar Abdul Salam, coach Amin Baharta from Jeddah United for their support.
