JEDDAH: Egypt is off to a 2-0 start, the Lebanese team avenged its defeat against the Filipinos in a rematch between last year’s finalists and host Jeddah United was just as impressive in its debut.
That just about sums up the opening week in the 2nd Open Intercultural Basketball Tournament at the spanking new Jeddah United basketball court in Al-Shati district here.
Event Manager Mohammed Shobain welcomed the six participating teams on opening day Thursday. Tournament Consultant-adviser Mohamed Bayoumi made the ceremonial toss of the ball to signal the start of the compact six-week cagefest featuring some of the best community teams in the city.
Egypt, which narrowly avoided going winless at 1-3 in the 2016 staging of the event but has since rebuilt, used its experience and won pulling away against the young Saudi community basketball team 76-65 in the first game Thursday.
The trio of Mohammed Hamdy, Tareq Al-Ether and the beanpole Zain went to work in the third quarter as the Egyptians wrested momentum from the Saudi youngsters who had dictated the tempo of the game early on and enjoyed double-digit leads.
Egypt had led by as many as 13 points, 69-56, with 1:29 to play. Shooting guard Hamdy finished the game with 27 points, Al-Ether had 13 and Zain added 13 points.
Osama Hawsawi scored 20 points at the helm of the Saudis with Sary Abdulmohsen on 14 and Mohanned Shobain on 13 points.
Returning to the court the next day, the Egyptians were pitted against the highly touted Syriana Ikk of Hassan Zeineddein. Showing their mettle under heavy siege in the stretch by the Syrians, Egypt snatched a thrilling 49-46 victory in a low-scoring game. Egypt twice lost the lead to the pesky Syrians and had to rely on its strong rebounding and free-throw shooting by Hamdy and Zain in the dying seconds to get the win. Egypt’s leading scorers were Al-Ether and Hamdy with 10 and 9 points respectively.
Tareq Jassoumah top-scored for Syriana with 12 points.
Obaid Madani’s Jeddah United, banking on the wily court general Samy Uariachi and strong play from Salman Mohammed, opened its campaign in the tournament with a 66-56 triumph over Syriana in the second game Thursday.
Samy, who provided stability at the point but, like his teammates, did not escape from the spartan-like if consummate style of coaching from his father and team coach Naoufal Uariachi, came through with 25 points at the vanguard of Jeddah United. Salman added 12 points while Fadi Alkheyami had 13 points.
But making a statement were the Lebanese with an American import after they blasted defending champion Team Pilipinas-Social Café 82-69 in the first game Friday.
American Muhammad Abdulaleem, a muscled power forward with excellent ball handling skills, ran rings around his Filipino guards to topscore for the Lebanese with 24 points. Point guard Ahmad Kheir contributed 16 points while Mostafa Fattal made 13 points for a Lebanese side managed by Sabbido Abo Wajih.
The Lebanese methodically blew the game wide open and led by as many as 20 points.
While the Lebanese ran their plays well the Filipinos under coach Francis Magat never got going and were soft on both ends of the court.
Joseph Ubalde, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the last tournament, scored 11 points, Tom Basa tallied 16 points and JR Piedra eight points for Team Pilipinas sponsored by Social Café.
The Basketball Officials Group (BOG) of Jun Lansang is in charge of the tournament officiating.
That just about sums up the opening week in the 2nd Open Intercultural Basketball Tournament at the spanking new Jeddah United basketball court in Al-Shati district here.
Event Manager Mohammed Shobain welcomed the six participating teams on opening day Thursday. Tournament Consultant-adviser Mohamed Bayoumi made the ceremonial toss of the ball to signal the start of the compact six-week cagefest featuring some of the best community teams in the city.
Egypt, which narrowly avoided going winless at 1-3 in the 2016 staging of the event but has since rebuilt, used its experience and won pulling away against the young Saudi community basketball team 76-65 in the first game Thursday.
The trio of Mohammed Hamdy, Tareq Al-Ether and the beanpole Zain went to work in the third quarter as the Egyptians wrested momentum from the Saudi youngsters who had dictated the tempo of the game early on and enjoyed double-digit leads.
Egypt had led by as many as 13 points, 69-56, with 1:29 to play. Shooting guard Hamdy finished the game with 27 points, Al-Ether had 13 and Zain added 13 points.
Osama Hawsawi scored 20 points at the helm of the Saudis with Sary Abdulmohsen on 14 and Mohanned Shobain on 13 points.
Returning to the court the next day, the Egyptians were pitted against the highly touted Syriana Ikk of Hassan Zeineddein. Showing their mettle under heavy siege in the stretch by the Syrians, Egypt snatched a thrilling 49-46 victory in a low-scoring game. Egypt twice lost the lead to the pesky Syrians and had to rely on its strong rebounding and free-throw shooting by Hamdy and Zain in the dying seconds to get the win. Egypt’s leading scorers were Al-Ether and Hamdy with 10 and 9 points respectively.
Tareq Jassoumah top-scored for Syriana with 12 points.
Obaid Madani’s Jeddah United, banking on the wily court general Samy Uariachi and strong play from Salman Mohammed, opened its campaign in the tournament with a 66-56 triumph over Syriana in the second game Thursday.
Samy, who provided stability at the point but, like his teammates, did not escape from the spartan-like if consummate style of coaching from his father and team coach Naoufal Uariachi, came through with 25 points at the vanguard of Jeddah United. Salman added 12 points while Fadi Alkheyami had 13 points.
But making a statement were the Lebanese with an American import after they blasted defending champion Team Pilipinas-Social Café 82-69 in the first game Friday.
American Muhammad Abdulaleem, a muscled power forward with excellent ball handling skills, ran rings around his Filipino guards to topscore for the Lebanese with 24 points. Point guard Ahmad Kheir contributed 16 points while Mostafa Fattal made 13 points for a Lebanese side managed by Sabbido Abo Wajih.
The Lebanese methodically blew the game wide open and led by as many as 20 points.
While the Lebanese ran their plays well the Filipinos under coach Francis Magat never got going and were soft on both ends of the court.
Joseph Ubalde, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the last tournament, scored 11 points, Tom Basa tallied 16 points and JR Piedra eight points for Team Pilipinas sponsored by Social Café.
The Basketball Officials Group (BOG) of Jun Lansang is in charge of the tournament officiating.
