Sophie Mosleh
In a game that saw Egypt’s Al-Ahly outlast Jordan’s Wehdat 97-59, the younger side Wehdat saw themselves, at the beginning of the game, as able to win, leading 10-8 in the first five minutes of the basketball international championship game Sunday night.
Because of this beaming confidence, they were energized and determined to win, concentrating on offense, and unintentionally forgetting defense.
This caused Wehdat many turnovers and the game speeded up rapidly increasing Al-Ahly’s scoring lead to 32-12, ten minutes before half-time.
After this, Wehdat tried to tone down their moves and they managed to score a few points, focusing on defense, making the score 34-20.
The Egyptians realizing they were in a critical point of the game, relied on three-pointers to lift their scoring difference to 54-27 at the end of the first-half.
Both teams played with the same techniques in the second-half and hence nothing changed. The Egyptians continued leading until the end of the match with a final score of 97-59.
Orthodox Stun Al-Ahli
In the strongest game of the championship so far, Jordan’s Orthodox Club stunned neighbors Al-Ahli 74-69 in a tough and close battle Sunday night.
It was the strongest game simply because the teams have the exact same playing style – defense.
Because both coaches emphasized the significance of this technique, the players tied at 9 points after five minutes of the game, and then at 16 in the middle of the first-half.
The importance for both teams to win this championship, was immense especially after competing against each other in the local league. This made the players nervous causing many mistakes for both sides, and the nervousness eventually led to tension – with no help from the fanatic fans.
The score moved slowly and was tied at 24 five minutes before the end of first-half and at 31 at the end of the first-half.
Starting the second-half, the teams were less nervous and played extremely well. Al-Ahli seemed to wake up to their senses and finally broke the tie, gaining the lead 41-33 and 48-40 after six minutes.
Orthodox followed in their footsteps, playing the ball with extremity, leveling the score at 52 and led 57-52 in the middle of the second-half.
Al-Ahli sensed they were in critical danger and lived up to their potential, working their score almost neck-and-neck with Orthodox at 69-66 with only three minutes left of the game.
A mere three points separated the teams, and both sides were drowned in sweat, but Orthodox knew how to control the situation, finally winning the match 74-69, gaining the number one position in the rankings, leaving Al-Ahli close behind at number two.
There will be two matches Monday night:
Al-Ansar [Saudi Arabia] Vs Egypt Olympic National team 6:15 p.m. local time
Zastava [Yugoslavia] Vs Yambolgas [Bulgaria] 8:30 p.m. local time -- Albawaba.com
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