Lebanese Beirut repeated the same scene of the final of the last league, and succeeded in defeating its traditional rival Al-Riyadi 80/76 and qualified to the semi-final round. The match witnessed a strange paradox as the time Beirut played very well making use of the weak defense of his competent to end the second period by difference of 20 points and the third period with difference of 16 points; then Al-Riyadi switches to another team and reduces the difference to only one basket in the last three minutes to the end; the match becomes open between the two teams, with the possibility of either of them winning, but the technical error that occurred in the last two minutes was exploited by Beirut and scored four throws, which made the task difficult for the athlete, who left the tournament early. If the American professional Ken Johnson contributed to the victory by scoring 27 points, which is the highest in the match, Ali Haidar’s role was no less than that because he scored 14 successful rebounds, i.e. 13 rebounds, of which 13 were in defense, which helped the Beirut team maintain its defensive balance at crucial times. It resulted in Beirut progressing in the first quarter 22/14 and the second quarter 23/11, while Al-Riyadi advanced in the third quarter 19/15 and the last quarter 32/20.
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