Tonight, the national basketball team fell into trouble by losing to the Saudi team 73-77 in their second match in the 31st edition of the Asia Cup basketball tournament hosted by the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which continues until August 17 with the participation of 16 teams.

The team did not improve its poor performance from the tournament opener, where it narrowly defeated India after overtime 91-84. It was close to suffering a historic first loss against its rival before managing to equalize at 80-80 in the final seconds. This is the second loss to the “Green” compared to six wins for the “Jordan Falcons”.

With this loss, the national basketball team will have to take the longer path in the tournament, as it will only qualify as group leader if it wins against China in the last match, scheduled for 2 PM on Saturday, by a margin of 5 points or more. Otherwise, it will have to play a knockout match to reach the quarterfinals. According to tournament rules, three teams qualify from each group: the group leader advances directly to the quarterfinals, while the second and third place teams play a knockout match to reach that stage. The team finishing fourth is eliminated.

The Saudi team dominated the match, with the national team chasing the score. Saudi led for about 36 minutes and reached a maximum lead of 22 points. The “Jordan Falcons” led for about two minutes and never exceeded a 2-point lead. Saudi scored 17 consecutive points while the national team’s longest streak was 8 points.

By the numbers:

Ahmed Al-Hamarsha was the best for the national team, scoring 19 points including two three-pointers from two attempts, and 5 of 7 two-point shots, plus three free throws with 100% success rate, along with two rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 22 minutes played. Freddy Ibrahim scored 19 points including two three-pointers, 6 rebounds, 5 assists but committed four turnovers in 36 minutes. Yazan Al-Tawil scored 13 points including three three-pointers with 100% success rate, one rebound, and one assist in about 26 minutes. Abdullah Olajuwan scored 10 points from two-point shots with 100% success rate, plus three rebounds and one steal in about 21 minutes.