JEDDAH — Al-Ittihad beat Al-Ahli 65-63 to claim the Saudi Basketball Premier League crown over the weekend here. More than 6,000 fans packed the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Basketball Arena in Jeddah to watch Game 4 of the best-of-five finals. Ittihad won Game 1 76-73, Ahli took the second one 84-73, Ittihad won the third one 73-68, before finally clinching the fourth one to take an assailable 3-1 lead. The two evenly matched teams battled each other over the first three quarters with the score being tied over 10 times. Ahli led after the first quarter 22-12. At half time the score was knotted 33-33. Ittihad pulled ahead 53-46 at the end of the third period. Ahli quickly battled back and the teams traded baskets for the fourth period. The game was tied 63-63 with 13 seconds to time. Ahli had the ball, but lost it with a bad inbound pass. Ittihad took over and after a missed shot Ittihad's Mohammed Hassan corralled the rebound and tried to make a layup. Ahli's Brandon Brown hit the ball after it hit the backboard and knocked it away. The referee called goaltending and awarded Ittihad with two points with no time left on the clock. Ahli's coach and players protested the call saying the shot was taken after the end of regulation time. While Ittihad players and fans started celebrating, Ahli's coach and a few players started screaming at the referees asking for overtime. The police escorted the referees off the court, while the Ittihad team ran around the court waving flags and cheering its win. The basketball federation officials finally managed to pacify the angry players and crowds before giving away the medals and trophies. Among Ittihad's top-scorers were: Tony Haymon (21 points), Mohammed Hassan (14) and Rashad Woods (12). Ahli's big guns included: Larry Blair (24), Brandon Brown (17) and Fawaz Mohammed (16).
