JEDDAH, 9 December 2007 — Al-Ansar from Madinah upset defending champions Al-Ittihad 77-65 in a high-octane final of the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Basketball Championship before a boisterous crowd at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal basketball hall here last night.
This was the third time Ittihad faced Ansar in a row. But this time Ittihad were unlucky in not notching up a hat trick of wins.
With the teams being aware of each others’ tactics, Ansar, who has gained experience over the last two years, played to a plan to clinch the trophy.
Ittihad were leading 15-14 in the first quarter, but they had 13 turnovers. Ansar’s swarming defense kept Ittihad off balance. At half-time, Ansar had the lead 31-24.
Ittihad started the second half with a power game led by veteran scorer Ali Al-Mughrabi and Hassan Mohammad Abdullah and they went up by 8 points only to end the period with a one-point edge, 46-45. The fourth quarter went back and forth and Ansar were up by one 65-64 with 22 seconds left. Ali Al-Mughrabi missed two foul shots, but with 8 seconds left, he was on the line again. This time he made one and time ran out with the score 65-65 as the match entered overtime.
In the overtime period Ansar went wild and outscored Ittihad 12 points to none, winning 77-65. Ayman Bilal sparkled scoring 17 points for Ansar. Ali Al-Mughrabi had 21 points for Ittihad.
