Wiggins, Al Naft not pushing panic button yet with 0-2 start

BAGHDAD (Iraq) - No one from Al Naft is thinking of ringing the alarm just yet even after falling to a 0-2 hole in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL), Thursday night.

Antwaine Wiggins remained defiant even if they're still in search of their first win in the West Asia League, firm in his belief that the team is capable of turning things around sooner.

"I still believe we have an opportunity," the veteran forward offered during the postgame press conference of their 90-78 loss to Sagesse at the Al Shaeb Hall.

"We also have many more games to have an opportunity to go up in the ranks. Our team has winners, so we're gonna make sure we do everything we can to prepare because we want to advance and be more successful than last season," he added.

Al Naft head coach Khalid Deroish was optimistic as well, lauding how well his wards had played even though they ultimately fell short and stayed last in Group A.

His team did lead after the first quarter before losing in the next period, although they rallied back and knocked within just three, 71-68, after being down by as much as 14 points.

"Hard luck for us. We played a good game but we fell short. We were not at our best in this game," he said. "We are now 0-2. But we have high hopes for the future, for the next games."

Causing big problems for them, though, was Pierre Jackson, who torched the home team with 39 big points on 5-of-11 shooting from deep for an impressive FIBA WASL debut.

The well-known journeyman's impressive performance included pouring 16 points in the fourth quarter alone, wherein he doused cold water to Al Naft's comeback attempt.

"Like Coach said, we played a good game. Unfortunately they shot very well tonight, especially the point guard, Jackson," said Wiggins, who finished with 13 points.

Still, as what he said, there's still another chance for redemption. They're still going to meet each other one more time, and Al Naft plan to be better when that time comes.

"But we'll see them again in Lebanon. We'll be prepared and we'll have a strategy to have a better result for the next time," said the 34-year-old.

FIBA