DOHA (Qatar) - Keron DeShields wasted no time announcing his arrival to the 2024/2025 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) as he towed Ittihad Club past Al Arabi SC, 85-81, Tuesday night at the Al-Gharafa Sports Club Multi-Purpose Hall.
The 32-year-old guard, who joined the club three weeks ago, finished with 24 points, scoring their last 6 to save themselves after the crew squandered a lead as big as 13 points and trailed by a field goal, 81-79, with only 1:28 left in the game.
He shot 50-percent from the floor and also collected 8 rebounds and 7 assists as his heroics enabled the Saudi Arabian side to end its two-game losing skid.
Through him, Ittihad foiled as well the bid of the Qatari team in extending their winning streak to three games. Both teams now tote similar 2-2 cards following the result, making the race in Group B of the Gulf League all the more interesting.
All teams in the pool, including perennial contenders Manama and Kuwaiti side Al Qadsia SC, are tied up as they all sport 2-2 records - a first in WASL.
Game heroes: Mathna Almarwani was also crucial in the triumph as he came through with 19 points on an 8-of-15 clip from the field, alongside 6 rebounds.
Suleiman Braimoh supplied 12 points. Makur Maker made 11 points and 9 rebounds, while Mohammed Almarwani chipped in 10 points in the triumph.
Turning point: It was Maker who gave Ittihad the lead back with 3:56 to go, when his lone triple of the night capped off a 12-0 run and put them up by one, 79-78.
Still, they got pushed into a precarious position after Elmedin Kikanovic converted a three-point play and lifted Al Arabi to an 81-79 edge with 1:28 remaining.
But then, DeShields took over. He first buried a trey of his own, and then scored inside off a drive from the baseline for the 84-81 lead with 41.3 seconds left.
Ittihad would then lean on defense afterward and although Mosti Rashed had a chance to tie, his three missed, forcing Al Arabi to foul DeShields moments later to stop the clock. He only split his bonuses, but Maker was there to get the miss.
The final buzzer sounded shortly after, and Ittihad would find themselves completing a season sweep of the team it beat for a winning WASL debut, 80-64.
Stats don't lie: Both teams combined for only 7 turnovers but Ittihad had the fewest after committing just 2 - without a doubt an occurrence so rare in a game.
They said: "I'm very proud of my team. All the credit goes to my players. Because we were leading, then Al Arabi came back, but they didn't give up. This means everything for any coach, a big thing that my team showed character." - Slobodan Subotic, Head Coach, Ittihad Club
"I want to say thanks to my team. Without my teammates, the way that they performed, the way that they played defense, I wouldn't have been able to do nothing. Thanks to Coach for believing in me. Coach looked at me in the third quarter and was like, 'What are you doing? Why don't you shoot it?' And that gave me the confidence to go further." - Keron DeShields, Guard, Ittihad Club
"Tough loss for us, especially on our home court. In this short format of competition, it's very important to win at home. But tonight, it was not meant for us to win. We struggled in the first half, we were down by 13 points, but in the third quarter we came back and in the fourth quarter, we were even up by 11 points. But we couldn't maintain the lead." - Elmedin Kikanovic, Center, Al Arabi SC
FIBA