ZOUK MIKAEL (Lebanon) - Sagesse found redemption in the form of a 94-89 victory over Amman United Club for a strong closeout to their First Round campaign in the 2024/2025 FIBA WASL-West Asia League, Sunday at the Nouhad Nawfal Stadium.
That humiliating 86-59 defeat to Al Riyadi barely 24 hours ago still in their minds, the Green Castle soldiered on and were reward greatly with a triumph that kept them in the middle of the five-team standings with a 2-2 record, sitting behind their unbeaten Lebanese rivals (3-0) and the 3-1 Tabiat Basketball.
Their foes, on the other hand, ended the window with three consecutive defeats, indeed a deflating skid after opening the tournament with much promise following a 96-87 win over Al Difaa Al Jawi last March 5.
Game heroes: Shabazz Muhammad top-scored in the win with 25 points and 9 rebounds on his way to earning Player of the Game honors, while Zach Lofton came through with 25 points and 7 assists as the two formed a solid 1-2 combination in leading their big second-half surge to erase a 49-45 halftime deficit.
Lofton, for one, manufactured 12 of his points in the third quarter alone to spearhead Sagesse's 30-point barrage, which gave themselves a 75-70 advantage heading into the game's last 10 minutes.
That included a three-point play against Fadi Qarmash entering the period's final minute to break a 68-all deadlock - a sequence that would put his team in the driver's seat the rest of the night.
'Bazz' then did his thing come the fourth quarter, serving as the stabilizing presence that his side badly needed as their Jordanian counterparts were threatening when they knocked to within a point, 79-78.
The former NBA veteran scored seven consecutive points - capped by a three-point play conversion off a foul by big man Troy Baxter, Jr. - to stretch their lead to six, 86-80, with only 3:23 remaining.
Sagesse would go on to repel succeeding attempts by Amman United. Jad Khalil's perfect trip the foul line, added by a five-second inbound violation by the opposition. and then an off-the-glass leaner by Lofton all inside the final 15.5 seconds of the match were all enough for the crew to seal the morale-boosting result.
Young ward Omar Jamaleddine continued his solid play and delivered 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 7 rebounds. Seasoned guard Khalil fell just short of a double-double as he finished with 12 points and 8 assists.
Stats don't lie: Sagesse came out aggressively and that showed with the way they ruled the boards, 43-29. They hauled down 24 of those on the offensive end alone, nearly matching the total output of Amman United.
They said: "Congratulations to my players and to my staff after the worst game from the day which I arrived. Today it was very difficult to overcome obstacles - to be focused, to fight. You know, we slept very late. The coaches were working till 5 o'clock, the players couldn't sleep. But today they reacted. And I'm extremely happy for my players, for my team, for everybody. I would like to say thanks a lot to our fans who came today after a bad performance. We would like them to be with us all the time." - Ilias Zouros, Head Coach, Sagesse
"I was happy that we didn't let yesterday's game define us. Obviously, it was a really tough loss, and we knew we had to win today. So with our back against the wall, we took care of business. To the fans that came and showed support, we really appreciate them. Hopefully we continue to play hard for them." - Omar Jamaleddine, Sagesse
"Today, the offensive rebounds hurt us too much. They took 24 offensive rebounds. I am happy with the energy of our players but we now need to focus on offensive rebounds. Twenty-four, that's too much." - Abdallah Abuqoura, Head Coach, Amman United
"The club is doing a lot of great stuff. They're trying to go in deep into the WASL and then we're trying to do as much as we can, fight to the last second as long as we play hard and that's what they want to see. I feel like today, we could've stolen if we just limited it a little bit, and that's something to learn from to be honest: just the offensive rebounds. If we limited them at least 10, or 12, or 15 whatever, it could've been [different], who knows. But we'll see. We'll see in April." - Hashem Abbas, Amman United Club
FIBA