Basketball League enters decisive stage

AMMAN — The final stage of the Jordan Basketball League starts on Friday when the top two teams start the best-of-seven playoffs for the title.

Orthodoxi play Riyadi at 5:30pm on Friday in the start of the final stretch for the title with holders Orthodoxi 2-0 down in the series. Riyadi ended Round 2 atop the standings after an unbeaten record in the two legs of the event. They beat Orthodoxi twice 73-65 and 81-73 and now need two more wins to snatch the title.

Riyadi had finished Round 1 in third place after Hurrieh and Orthodoxi. The team also lost the Jordan Cup at the onset of the season. However, they rebounded and reversed their Round 1 form and are now two wins away from the title. 

Despite the injury of centre Wisam Sous, who is out for the season, Riyadi beat Awdeh 86-61, Round 1 unbeaten team Hurrieh 73-67 and Orthodoxi 73-65. In Leg 2 they beat Awdeh 85-74 and Hurrieh 80-77. 

Orthodoxi hosted the West Asian Basketball Championship and failed to qualify. They fortunes remained the same in Leg 2 of the competition and they now need four wins to retain the title. Orthodoxi beat Hurrieh 78-58 and Awdeh 86-82 in Leg 1 and repeated them in Leg 2 beating Awdeh 74-67 and Hurrieh 67-52. 

Hurrieh and Awdeh will play the best-of-five play-off for third place. In Round 2 Awdeh beat Hurrieh 65-60 and in Leg 2 Hurrieh won 71-65.

Hurrieh had finished Round 1 with an unbeaten record, while Orthodoxi were second after they beat Riyadi. With teams like Applied Science University, Ittihad, Wihdat pulling out of the competition, Awdeh joined the top four. 

At the other end of the standings, Kufr Youba and Jalil held on to their spots pushing Ghazzet Hashem and Nashama to be relegated to Division 1.

The season started with Orthodoxi winning the Jordan Cup and aiming to retain the league title which they won for the record 23rd time last year.

Apart from Riyadi and Orthodoxi, leading clubs abandoning the game this season leading to major changes in the league. After winning the league four times, the last being in 2013 and 2014, both ASU and Ittihad disbanded their teams over differences with the Jordan Basketball Federation. Players were dispersed over the rest of clubs and new clubs with no fan base entered the competition in what has led to a sharp decline in the game locally and Jordan’s regional competitive chances.