JEDDAH, 27 January 2008 — Import players Damon Forney and Kareem Grant combined the one-two punch to hand Al-Ahli a 78-71 victory over their arch foe Al-Hilal.
It was Ahli’s eighth victory in the ongoing Saudi Basketball Federation League at the sports complex of Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here on Friday night.
The game was a steady show of strength by Ahli, out-rebounding, penetrating, and scoring. Forney and Grant overpowered Hilal in the paint going ahead every time Hilal closed the gap.
Hilal, due to some incisive passes and moves, took the lead in the third quarter but could not hold their grasp of the game. The victory put Ahli at the top of the league.
In another match, mighty Al-Ittihad ran over Al-Nasr to earn a huge 95-27 victory over their lowly rivals.
Only playing half of the game, Mahmood Abdul Rauf scored 24 points and had 6 assist; Ali Mughrabi, the star of Ittihad team, had 11 points and 8 assist. Import DeAngleo Collins had 13 points and 8 rebounds.
Coach Ali Sanhani called the bench players to finish the game. Ohud squeaked by Qadisiya 80-78 to stay undefeated; and the perfect Ansar outclassed Nahda 88-79 to stay undefeated by winning all 8 matches.
Ahli had the best defense out of the three 8 win teams. Ansar took second in defense and Ohud third. Ittihad took the sole possession of second place.
Ohud and Ansar set their fixture on Thursday and Friday to play against Ittihad and Ahli at the same venue in Jeddah. The teams will test each other’s skill and produce a winner.
