DOHA (Qatar) - Al Arabi became the first team to deal Al Qadsia their first loss in the 2024/2025 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) after coming away with the 88-81 victory on Tuesday night at the Al-Gharafa Sports Club Multi-Purpose Hall.
The Qatari side came back from a 10-point third-quarter deficit and then took the lead for good midway into the final frame, but still needed to repel one last comeback attempt by the visitors on the way to clinching their second win in a row.
Following the result, both ball clubs now tote similar 2-1 records in Group B of the Gulf League, creating a potentially interesting race as the season goes.
Group B standings as of December 10, 2024:
Game heroes: Elmedin Kikanovic powered Al Arabi with 28 points and 11 rebounds for an efficiency of 27, playing an important role in their fourth-quarter surge.
The Bosnian center produced 10 of his points in the said period, including the last four of a crucial 7-0 run that broke a deadlock and gave themselves the 74-67 advantage with 7:15 remaining, which put them ahead the rest of the way.
'Kika' would also be there to help keep their foes at bay, slamming down a wide-open two-handed jam inside - brought about by a defensive collapse on the part of Qadsia - for an 80-77 lead with less than four minutes remaining.
His teammates would take it from there, with Khaled Abdelbaset draining a triple shortly after that dunk and the duo of Moustada Fouda and Victor Rudd nailing the insurance free throws inside the final 36.7 of the game to seal the deal.
Suliman Khalid finished with 19 points, while Abdelbaset supplied 14 points on a 3-of-6 clip from beyond the arc alongside 7 rebounds as they helped Al Arabi to another come-from-behind win like what they did versus Manama the last time out.
Turning point: Qadsia caught a bad break when Chinemelu Elonu suffered an apparent ankle injury and eventually led to his exit from the match.
The bruising big man got hurt at the 7:25-mark of the fourth when his leg slammed on the basket stanchion as he landed awkwardly following an attempt to chase down the shot of Mosti Rashed. He had to be carried out of the playing court.
Without a reliable man in the middle, the team of Coach Joey Stiebing struggled, allowing Kikanovic and the others to have their way near the rim.
Stats don't lie: Al Arabi shot 50-percent from the floor, thanks to the way they shared the ball as evidenced by their 21 assists. They won the rebounds, too, 48-35.
They said: "I was no longer surprised because most of these players grew up with me and gradually developed, and so the fighting spirit will always be in them. And I trust my players that in the 40 minutes they play, they will give their 200-percent each." - Hatem Mamlouk, Head Coach, Al Arabi
"Our goal was to protect our homecourt. This is the first of three games at home and we desperately wanted to win tonight at any cost. I'm happy that we never gave up during the game. We were down by 10 in the third quarter. In Manama, we were down by 21 in the second quarter, and we came back. This team is showing character through the difficulties we have." - Elmedin Kikanovic, Center, Al Arabi
"I just know that it's an ankle injury. I think he twisted it when he came down. I think he hit the backboard stanchion and twisted it when he hit that. We'll have to get a better look at it tomorrow and see how he heals. Losing him really affected us because he's our anchor in the middle of our defense. He's a great rebounder. But we have to overcome any losses with our personnel." - Joey Stiebing, Head Coach, Al Qadsia
"For sure, this loss is gonna teach us how to win next game. We'll correct our mistakes and stick to the coaches' plan." - Sayed Akbar, Guard, Al Qadsia
FIBA