Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The Saudi Basketball Federation playoffs opened at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Basketball Hall this week here. The top six teams are fighting it out in the payoffs. In the first round, No. 1 Fath and No. 2 Nasser got a bye and waited to face the winners of the match between No. 3 Ittihad and No. 6 Ahli and No. 4 Ohud against No. 5 Ansar. Round one had Ohud playing Ansar two games and winning both to move on to round two. The first game was tied at 85-all after four quarters and went into overtime with Ohud winning 91-86. In the next game Ohud beat Ansar 60-45 to move on to round two. Ohud's Abu Jalal scored 34 points in the first game and 15 in the second. Import point guard Rayan Delaney hit 27 in the first game and 13 in the second. Shalabi nailed 5 three-point shots in the second game. Ansar's import players big man Serge Poprohoufa had 23 and 21 with Abdul Kareem 17 and 6. Ittihad and Ahli's first game after four quarters was tied at 68-all. In an exciting overtime period Ahli won 80-79. Ahli's Mazook had 20, import player Zaid Abbas 14 and another import Deon Wright 13. With his last shot he hit a three with one second left on the clock winning the game. Ittihad's high scores were imports Josh Dollard (26), Quintrell Thomas (17) and Mohammed Hassan and Methana Hassan (11 each) in the first game. The second game was a real battle. The first period ended Ahli 19, Ittihad 18 and the second Ahli 37, Ittihad 30. In the third Ittihad rallied and finished 49-48. Ittihad then went on to win 69-58. Ittihad's Josh Dollard hit 21, Quintrell Thomas 10, Methana Hassan 15 and Mohammed Hassan 10. Ittihad plays Fath in the second round and Ohud will play Nasser.
