Beirut derby in FIBA WASL as Sagesse, Al Riyadi set up West Asia Semis clash

DAMASCUS (Syria) - Long-time Lebanese basketball foes find themselves bringing their historic rivalry in a stage as big as the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL).

Sagesse and Al Riyadi are set to meet in the West Asia League Semi-Finals after the Green Castle put on a dominant showing and finished off Al Wahda on the road, 99-78, in Game 2 of their Qualification to Semis affair, Thursday night at the Al Fayhaa Stadium.

It is now the second time in a row that two teams from Lebanon will duke it out in the sub-zone league Semis. Al Riyadi faced Beirut Club back in the inaugurals, where they swept the latter to exact vengeance over what happened in the 2022 Lebanese league final.

Al Riyadi eventually won the West Asia League title and are keen on going back-to-back, but Sagesse definitely look to spoil those plans. Game 1 of their Semis starts on March 27.

Game heroes: A total of seven players finished in double figures in the victory. Ahmad Ibrahim led the way with 19 points on an efficient 8-of-13 shooting from the field.

The trio of Omar Jamaleddine, Radhouane Slimane, and Aziz Abdel Massih each produced 14 points. The tandem of Karim Ezzedine and Jonathan Gibson supplied 13 points apiece, with the latter adding 10 assists to his name. Deng Acuoth chipped in 10 and 13.

Turning point: Sagesse went off to a 13-3 start into the game but it wasn't until the second period where the rout would begin. They were ahead by just eight, until Abdel Massih's trey sparked a 13-2 run and inflated the cushion to 42-23 with 4:31 on the clock.

The crew poured 39 big points in the said chapter alone while limiting the home team to 19 to head into the halftime intermission holding a commanding 59-32 advantage.

Their lead would rise to as high as 33 points, 77-44, following a three-point play conversion by Jamaleddine - off a Sharif Al Osh foul - with 2:19 left in the third quarter.

Stats don't lie: Sagesse hit 15 triples in the win, equalling the second-most threes by a team in a game in FIBA WASL-West Asia which they also set against, coincidentally, another Syrian team when they dealt Al-Ittihad Ahli a 101-58 beatdown back in the Group Phase.

The unit also finished with 27 assists in the win, the most they've had so far this season and tied for fourth-most in the sub-zone with Al Shorta and the undefeated Gorgan.

They said: "We came here full of focus. We put a target on finishing the series. We don't want to play one more game next week in Lebanon. We kept our focus. We did an amazing start in the first half, we controlled the game, and we got the win." - Jad El Hajj, Head Coach, Sagesse

"As Coach Jad said, we came here full of focus. We knew playing on the road in an atmosphere like this, and they're doing a great job with Coach Marwan Khalil, they're fighting all the way. We knew it wasn't gonna be easy, But the whole team kept pushing." - Karim Ezzedine, Sagesse

"We didn't show up very well-focused and ready to execute in the first half. That was a major setback in our game because we knew that Sagesse wanted to play the transition game and score threes in transition. We knew that we had to control the tempo, which we didn't do in the first half, and that's why they scored a lot like 59 points in one half. That was a big problem for our defense. The better team won tonight." - Marwan Khalil, Head Coach, Al Wahda

"That's a good team. We made some mistakes. I thought we beat ourselves a couple of times. We tried to fight towards the end but the better team won tonight." - Donte McGill, Al Wahda

FIBA