JEDDAH, 4 February 2008 — Ansar brought down Al-Ittihad 71-65 on Friday night and remained the only undefeated team in the Saudi Basketball Federation league sponsored by Al Jawal at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium here.
Ansar ran their fast break pretty well with point guard Ayman Bilal setting the pace. Ittihad countered with a box and one defense playing up close on Bilal and was only down one point at the end of the first period 23-22.
Ansar increased the lead to 8 points 40-32 at the turn with some strong inside play in the second quarter.
Ittihad struggled trying to stop Bilal, and at the end of three quarters were losing by 12 points 57 to 45.
Ansar’s swarming zone defense kept Ittihad off balance and they held on to win the second game of the night.
Bilal grabbed scoring honors for Ansar with 19 points, import players Souleyman Aw had 17 and Babaca Camara 12. Ittihad were lead by Mahmood Abdul Rauf with 18 points, DeAngelo Collins 15 and Ali Mugraby 13. Ansar committed 28 turnovers, 18 of them on traveling violations, but they outhustled Ittihad and proved they belong at the top of the league.
In first game, Al-Ahli gave Ohud their second loss of the season winning by 89-72. Ahli played most of the game without import center Damon Forney, who was sidelined with an ankle injury. Ohud was without the services of Waleed Al Madani also out with a sprained ankle.
At halftime Ahli led 48-45. Yassar Mutar and import player Kareem Grant did the inside work for Ahli while import players Souleyman Camara and Jihad Muhammad led Ohud.
Ansar have 10 wins in as many games. Ahli are second at 9-1 win-loss card, while Ittihad and Ohud are tied at 8-2. Qadisia are fifth, Fath sixth, Masera seventh, Nahdah eight, Hilal ninth, Wehda tenth, Arabi 11th, and Nasser 12th and last.
