Ahmad Ibrahim steers Sagesse near West Asia League Semis

GHAZIR (Lebamon) - Ahmad Ibrahim powered Sagesse to an 89-75 rout of Al Wahda to move one step closer to the FIBA WASL-West Asia League Semi-Finals, Thursday night.

Much to the delight of their loyal fans at the Ghazir Club Stadium, the veteran forward turned in his best performance in the tilt to date with 32 points, 15 of which he made in the first quarter alone to lead the home team to a blazing 32-16 start to dictate the pace.

He came up big as well when the opposition got to as close as nine points in the third quarter, nailing back-to-back three-pointers from way beyond the arc to close out a 13-2 run toward a 61-45 lead with 2:50 to go to be in cruise control the rest of the way.

Ibrahim shot 54-percent from the floor and tallied 5 rebounds and 5 assists to give Sagesse a chance to formalize their Semis entry in Game 2 next Thursday at the Al Fayhaa Stadium in Damascus, Syria, which is expected to be filled up with another big crowd.

Game heroes: But it wasn't an all-Ibrahim show as the usual suspects came through with solid performances as well. Jonathan Gibson, for one, made 17 points and 5 rebounds.

Frontcourt partners Marc Khoueiry and Deng Acuoth tossed in 12 points apiece and combined for 5 steals and 4 blocks as four of the five starters finished in double figures in the win.

STEP AHEAD Player of the Game: Ibrahim, without a shadow of a doubt, earned STEP AHEAD Player of the Games honors following an outing that saw him net an efficiency of 34.

Stats don't lie: Sagesse shot a total of 11 triples in the win, including five in the first quarter alone as they jumped to a big 24-9 advantage to set the tone of the wire-to-wire win.

They said: "It was a good game from our side. We always focus when we play at home to win four quarters. We won two, especially the first one was great, and the third one. We lost the second and last quarter. We spoke to the guys in the briefing that the most important thing when we play in the playoffs or in a knockout series is to get the win, and this is what we did." Jad El Hajj, Head Coach, Sagesse

"The entire team played a really good game. We played together. We fought hard. We played on both ends. So that’s how we got the lead. Hopefully we can keep it up from now on so we can always show this character." - Ahmad Ibrahim, Sagesse

"We had a sluggish start. Sagesse were so hot in the first quarter. After that we kept trailing all throughout. The points off turnovers did not help as much, we had many unforced errors, and they scored out of it. That was the main problem during the game." - Marwan Khalil, Head Coach, Al Wahda

"Sagesse, they came out pretty hard. From rebounds to threes, they took over the game with great energy. Their support cast was very aggressive as well." - Jomaru Brown, Al Wahda

FIBA