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Al Ittihad beats Al Wahda to reach basketball final

An overwhelming win swept Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad into the finals of the 12th ABC Nescafe Champions‚ Cup where they take on Qatar's Al Rayan in this Asian Clubs basketball extravaganza being played at the Al Ahli Indoor Stadium last night.

  • By Leslie Wilson Jr
  • Published: 00:00 June 8, 2001
  • Gulf News

An overwhelming win swept Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad into the finals of the 12th ABC Nescafe Champions‚ Cup where they take on Qatar's Al Rayan in this Asian Clubs basketball extravaganza being played at the Al Ahli Indoor Stadium last night.

Al Ittihad, who accounted for the hosts in Wednesday's quarterfinals, won an action-packed clash against Syria's Al Wahda 111-94, while Al Rayan put paid to the hopes of Hong Kong's Winling 89-68 in the other semifinal.

In a somewhat intense match, Al Rayan stragecially turned the tables on their Far Eastern rival to prise out what eventually was a comfortable victory.

There was little to choose between the two sides during a closely-fought first session which saw Winling go into the break with a slender advantage at 49-48. But the Qataris returned to the court, revitalised and tactically inspired to snatch control of the match with a flurry of baskets.

Al Rayan threw a blanket around Winling‚s key player Darren Paul Henry to effectively neutralise the talented US-based pro's sharpshooting skills even as their own Christian Iman consistently found the hoop to give his side a decisive 56-49 lead within minutes of the restart.

Al Rayan never looked back thereafter and built on the advantage given by the stylish Iman, who also peddles his wares in the U.S., while keeping a; tight rein on the Syrian forwards who were rendered ineffective by precise marking.

Henry, who accounted for 23 of Winling's first session points, failed to convert a single basket in the second and though three-point speciallist Young Kam Wau (20) and Khari Jason (12) attempted to rally the Hong Kong team, they were seriously found wanting. Wau thrilled the fans with a string of well-sunk three pointers.

But Al Rayan might have even won by an even higher margin had their own sharpshooters, particularly top scorer Yasir Ismail (33) and Iman (22) not lost the range of their shots in the high rush of success.

The Hong Kong side, sensing that they had to do something special to turn the tide, resorted to some flambuoyant basketball featuring some erratic shooting.

The likes of Ismail, easily the star of the match with a high score of 33 points, and Iman, should be finding the victory a big enrichment of their form heading into today's final game against a team, bristling with confidence.

The Ittihad-Al Wahdah game was fast and furious with plenty of action under the hoop, although at times it lacked the extra edge of class - no surprise considering the tension and stakes. Despite the winning margin, 17 points, it was much even contested and the losers were certainly not disgraced.

Scores:
Al Rayan, Qatar 89 (Yasir Ismail 33, Christian Iman 22) beat Winling, Hong Kong: 68 (Darren Paul Henry 23, Young Kam Wau 20, Khari Jason 12) Half time: 48-49
Al Ittihad, Saudi Arabia 111 beat Al Wahda, Syria 94
Today's final: 9.30pm.

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