DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - Kuwait Club received the toughest test from Shabab Al Ahli to date on Monday night, but still found ways to succeed.
The reigning two-time Gulf League champions continue to have the number of their UAE counterparts, taking a 75-71 victory in a thrilling resumption to the 2024/2025 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.
Hussian Alkhabbaz, Omran Jawhar, and Hamad Hasan dealt the big blows inside the final 1:41, sending the home team down for the count to foil a late-game flurry that saw the latter come to within a point, 67-66, after being down by nine twice.
By escaping with the narrow win, Kuwait Club have now taken the solo lead in Group A with a clean 3-0 record while dealing Shabab Al Ahli their first loss (2-1).
Game heroes: Augustine Rubit top-scored with 20 points and 9 rebounds for an efficiency of 20 as he played a key role for his side in gaining control of the game in the third quarter after trailing by as much as six points, 49-43.
JaKarr Sampson finished with 17 points while Hasan finished with 13 points, spiked by a pair of triples, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists for a contribution so timely as the usually solid Briante Weber got held to only 5 points, although he had 4 boards and 6 dimes.
Turning point: It was a tough night not only for one man but for the entire team of Coach Peter Schomers, that they couldn't seal the game yet entering the last two minutes especially when Sir'Dom Pointer brought Shabab Al Ahli to within a point.
Alkhabbaz, though, was there to give themselves some much-needed breathing room when he nailed an important trifecta to stretch the lead to four with 1:41 to go.
Shabab Al Ahli cut the gap to half behind a perfect trip to the free throw line by new reinforcement Deshawndre Washington but it proved to be the last time that they would get close, with Pointer committing a costly turnover.
Weber took the ball and then tossed it to Jawhar, who then jammed it home - posterizing Pointer in the process - to make it a four-point lead again.
The match would become harder to reach for the hosts when Hasan nailed the dagger triple from the left wing and made it a 75-68 edge with 45.8 ticks left to play.
Stats don't lie: Kuwait Club have now gone 4-0 against Shabab Al Ahli in WASL, a streak that dates back to the 2022/2023 Gulf League Semi-Finals.
They said: "We did what we had to do. That was a good experience for us. Because I feel like we're still a young team. We haven't had a whole lot of challenges this season, so that was a good one. A good learning experience. Down the line, I hope it makes us better." - Peter Schomers, Head Coach, Kuwait Club
"We had too many turnovers but at the end of the day, it was a good game. They came out and played hard, played aggressive. We just couldn't handle handle well, me specifically. We gotta play harder." - Sir'Dom Pointer, Forward, Shabab Al Ahli
FIBA