JEDDAH: Ohud banked on two foul shots by Abdul Mosen to score a 65-62 come-from-behind victory over Al-Ahli and set up a final showdown with Al-Ittihad last night in the Top Eight Basketball Championship at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports Complex here.
Ittihad brought down Al-Hilal 84-77 in the first game. The victories gave Ohud and Ittihad a sweep of the best-of-three semifinals. Ohud beat Ahli 81-67 and Ittihad crushed Hilal 93-65 in the series openers on Sunday.
Ahli led for most of the game and was up by seven points with two minutes left. Ohud hit key baskets in the stretch to wrest to initiative and Ahli came to within a point with a three, time down to four seconds.
Mosen was fouled and made both free throws to preserve the win for Ohud.
Ittihad took control from the start finishing the first quarter ahead 27-11. Hilal closed the gap by halftime, which ended 48-34 for Ittihad.
Hilal came within four points in the last quarter but could not pull any closer.
High man for Ittihad was Ismail Ahmed with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Marlon Palmer had 22 points and 7 assists. Ali Magrabi had 18 point and 14 rebounds
For Hilal, Kevin Sowell led the way with 29 points and 7 rebounds. Gabrel Hughs had 22 points and 15 rebounds. Ohud and Ittihad play for the championship crown in a one-game knockout final on Thursday.
The tournament featured the top eight teams after the regular season of the Saudi Basketball Federation league.
