JEDDAH: Thursday night the 32nd season of the Saudi Basketball Federation got under way with all 12 teams seeing action.
Double-header games were played in Jeddah, Madinah and Dammam. This year the clubs in the league are Ansar, Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Ohud, Al-Hilal, Wehda, Nahda, Kalij, Fath, Al-Masira, Qadisia, and Safa.
Ahli started the night with a win over Wehda 66-49 at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports Complex here. Ahli’s new head coach Victor is well known in the region. Originally, from Russia he played for the Russian national team against the US’s first Dream Team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Victor then played in Turkey for 10 years and started a successful coaching career. Ahli got off to a great start and by halftime was leading Wehda by 15 points at 35-20. Wehda played the game with only a few bench players and no imported professional players. After three quarters, it was Ahli 53 Wehda 37. Ahli finished them off 66 to 49. Import player Sherman Brittingham had a solid game scoring 17 points for the winners. Mohammad Barnawi showed some promise for Wehda.
Game 2 was Ittihad against Masira. Ittihad brought back head coach Felton Sealey to run the team this year. Sealy handed Ittihad a championship five years ago in his last stint in Jeddah. Masira came to play with only eight players and kept the game close in the first two periods. Ittihad led 16-14 in the first quarter and 39-35 at the half. With only three bench players, Masira was no match for Ittihad which pulled away in the third canto 65-49 and won the game by 87-64. Masira’s import players Curtis Williams had 21 points and Laddie Williams 16. But Masira could not keep up with the run-and-gun game of Ittihad. Ali Mugrabi hit 17, import player Danny Johnson had 16, and Jabber Kabri put in 15 to lead Ittihad.
Ansar played the first game in Madinah and romped past Safa 80-25. Ohud took to the floor against Kalij and held on to win 66-62. The first game in Dammam was last year’s champion Hilal against Qadisia. Hilal outplayed Qadisia winning 85-71. Nahdah defeated Fath 86-76 in the second game.
Friday night in Madinah, Ansar beat Khalij 68-59. Ohud defeated Safa 92-53. Jeddah teams pleased the crowds with Ahli adding a victory by beating Masera 88-54 and Ittihad breezing past Wehda 99- 52.
In Dammam, Nahda outbattled Hilal 88-80, and Fath beat Qadisia 97-77. After two games each, there are five teams undefeated. Ittihad leads the pack with total points scored, second is Nahda, third Ohud, fourth Ahli, and fifth Ansar. Teams with one win and one loss are Fath and Hilal, which occupy sixth and seventh places in the team standings. Qadisia, Khalij, Masira, Wehda, and Safa are winless. The league resumes play after the Haj holidays on Dec.18.
