Umar Abdul Salam JEDDAH — Al-Ittihad wiped Al-Hilal 82-56 in the quarterfinals of the 36th Prince Faisal Basketball Cup to secure a berth in the last four. Ittihad started strongly in a bid to avenge its only loss of the season to Hilal. Ittihad took a five-point lead in the first period 18-13. By half-time the lead had increased to 17 points, 40-23. Ittihad's Jabber Al-Kabri was on fire, hitting four three-pointers by the end of the third to increase the gap by 26 points. Jabber finished with 28 points — 5 steals, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Ayman Al-Medani had 13 points and Mohammed Hassan 10 in the win. Hilal's Khaled Mohammed scored 15. In another quarterfinal, Ohud shut down Ahli 72-59. Abu Jebel led Ohud with 17 points as Anwar Bilal added 11. Ahli's Mohammed Musa was high with 19 points, followed by Mohammed Shalaby and Saad with 10 each. Another quarterfinal saw Ansar edge out Wehdah 63-58. At half-time Ansar was leading by two, 32-30. Wehdah stayed strong till the end, but was overpowered in the last minutes thereby losing the thrilling encounter by five points. The final quarterfinal saw fourth placed Al-Fath lose to seventh placed Nahdah 64-60. Fath was leading by a point at the halfway mark 41-40. Nahdah's intensity in the second half gave it the edge and it won by a slim margin of four points.
