Gorgan show steely resolve, send Al Riyadi to do-or-die

TEHRAN (Iran) - Shahrdary Gorgan dragged Al Riyadi to a sudden death by way of a 95-85 Game 2 win in the FIBA WASL-West Asia League Season 2 Final, Wednesday night.

Much to the delight of their faithful that trooped to the Azadi Basketball Hall, the Iranian side seized control of the game early in the fourth before Will Cherry, Arsalan Kazemi, and Sina Vahedi dealt the final blows to send the reigning sub-zone champions down for the count.

Yousof Vand would go on to put the exclamation point with a one-handed jam before time expired as Gorgan bounced back from that humiliating Game 1 loss last week in Zouk Mikael.

Now they turn their attention in the winner-take-all Game 3 set on May 8, Wednesday, at Al Riyadi's home floor at the Stade Nouhad Nawfal. Tip-off is at 21:45 local time.

Game heroes: All starters scored in double figures in the win, with Cherry leading the way with a game-high 25 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and a block as he helped Gorgan prove once more that they can win games with only just one foreign reinforcement in the squad.

Vahedi finished with 19 points and 7 assists. Arsalan Kazemi delivered 13 points ,10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 26 minutes - indeed a major reason behind his solid play after playing for nearly 40 minutes back in Game 1. Salar Monji added 10 points and 6 rebounds.

Vand, meanwhile, was the only player off the bench to score in the triumph as he supplied 17 big points, providing a surprise spark as he was among the big men that feasted inside the paint with the absence of Thon Maker for Al Riyadi due to an injury.

Turning point: Game was tied at 67-all entering the final frame until a Vahedi lay-up and a corner triple from Rezaeifar gave Gorgan a 72-67 edge 59 seconds into the period.

That run was more than enough to swing momentum in their favor, so much so that it sparked a 15-2 scoring spree toward an 82-71 lead with 5:30 remaining in the match.

Al Riyadi, though, refused to thrown in the towel, charging back to get to within just a field goal, 87-85, following a Jonathon Simmons triple with less than two minutes to go.

Kazemi, however, halted the opposition's run with a cleanup job of Salar Monji's swatted attempt, and Cherry would make it a six-point gap, 91-85, after calmly sinking his free throws with 28.0 seconds left, practically sealing the deal for the home team.

Stats don't lie: Gorgan shot 48-percent from the floor, indeed an improvement after making just 30.9-percent of their field goals back in Game 1. They also had 21 assists in the win that saw them commit just 8 turnovers, unlike the opposition that had 17.

They said: "The last game, I think it was a disaster for us. But the players came back and they came back with great form, and tonight they played really well, tried really hard, and this can be a really good example for Iranian basketball - they played for each other, they sacrificed for each other." - Mostafa Hashemi, Head Coach, Shahrdary Gorgan

"We had a really tough loss in Lebanon and I'm really happy for my team and for this game. We played really well. I want to congratulate the coaching staff and my teammates for this great game." - Sina Vahedi, Shahrdary Gorgan

"It's one of those bad nights for us. We cannot expect to win a game against a team like Gorgan and make 17 turnovers. This is too much. Also, we didn't shoot well today. It was the opposite to what we had in Beirut. We have a lot of work to do. The game, we managed to play for like 28 minutes of good basketball but in the end, we collapsed. We have a lot of work to do before the next game and hopefully in Beirut we can improve our performance and try to finish it." - Ahmad Farran, Head Coach, Al Riyadi

FIBA