ZOUK MIKAEL (Lebanon) - Al Riyadi showed craftier mastery of the situation to carve out a 100-85 against fellow Lebanese arch-rivals Sagesse in the Beirut Derby in the FIBA WASL West Asia League 2024/25 game on Wednesday. The consummate win in front of a capacity crowd took the reigning FIBA WASL and BCL Asia champions’ to their sixth win, from as many games, thus becoming the first West Asian team to book their ticket to the FIBA WASL Final 8. Sagesse, on the other hand with a 3-3 record now, kept their hopes alive more due to Iraqi club Al Difaa Al Jawi SC’s win over Amman United in the earlier game of the day.
“Our aim was to seal the ticket to Final 8. We achieved that,” gushed Riyadi coach Ahmad Farran.
“It is always great to play against Sagesse. And it is always great to win against them.
“We did tweak a little in our match-ups defensively and it really paid off. We have now achieved our first target. We’ll now focus on playing better basketball,” he said.
“They played better during the bigger part of the game,” Sagesse coach Ilias Zouros conceded.
Marcus Georges-Hunt continued with another substantial return to his investment reeling in a 10/17 in field shooting including a perfect 4/4 from beyond the arc for his 27 points to lead Riyadi’s scoring.
“I had got here only yesterday and took my time to get into rhythm. But my coaches and teammates had a lot of confidence in me,” said Georges-Hunt.
Star Wael Arakji turned on his customary charm in dishing out 6 assists to go with 20 points. And Hayk Gyokychyan played the longest for Riyadi for his 19 points.
“We did well to control their Lebanese players. And this really helped us a lot,” said Arakji.
Zach Lofton had a game-high 40 points for Sagesse.
Sagesse seemed to hold their fort in the initial part of the game, even keeping their noses ahead for the better part of the first quarter.
Lofton along with fellow foreigner Ater Majok combined well with Omar Jamaleddine with eye catchy plays to keep the Green Castle ahead.
Riyadi did take time to settle down into their usual rhythm till Arakji and Georges-Hunt got into wonted form.
Arakji drove in the lane to give Riyadi their first lead in the game. And Georges-Hunt regained it moments later. Only this time to take the lead and never look back. And a lead that kept burgeoning as the game went on.
Riyadi enjoy a two-day off, including the official rest day on Thursday before lining up against Iran’s Tabiat on Saturday.
Sagesse head into a critical game against Amman United on Friday.
“We need to come back with batteries recharged and focus on winning the next games to qualify,” said Zouros.
FIBA