KUWAIT CITY (Kuwait) - Al Qadsia SC moved a win away from the 2024/2025 FIBA WASL-Gulf League Finals after taking down Ittihad Club anew, 82-69, Tuesday night at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex.
The Kuwaiti club unleashed a 13-2 run abridging the third and fourth quarters to take a 66-56 lead before pulling away for good just moments later on the way to taking Game 1 of their best-of-3 Semi-Final series.
Not only did they put one foot into the Big Dance but they crew of Coach Joey Stiebing have also extended their mastery of the Saudi Arabian side after winning both of their meetings back in the Group Phase.
That makes it three straight wins now following their most recent battle and they can complete the season - and also the series - sweep in Game 2 next Tuesday, March 18, at the Green Basketball Court in Riyadh.
Game heroes: Sayed Akbar equalled his season-high with 22 points on an excellent 9-of-14 shooting from the field to lead Qadsia as he once again proved to be the thorn on the side of their counterparts.
Chinemelu Elonu delivered a solid double-double of 19 points and 16 rebounds for an efficiency of 24. Sek Henry came through with 18 points and 6 rebounds, while Rashed Alrabah chipped in 10 points in the win.
Turning point: Ittihad actually took a 54-53 lead behind Mohammed Almarwani during the third quarter but Akbar himself took it back by nailing one of his three treys of the match, and that sparked the aforementioned run.
Qadsia would stay in the driver's seat since. Elonu would string together three straight points, before Akbar produced five consecutive to make it a 78-62 spread with 4:16 left to play as they put the game out of reach.
Stats don't lie: It was easily one of the worst shooting nights for Ittihad this season as they went 0-for-20 from beyond the arc in the defeat, something that they will surely address as they gear up for Game 2.
They said: "I thought our guys really played well in the second half. Defensively, I thought we were able to limit their second shots. We only gave up two points on the offensive boards in the second half - in the first half, we gave up 12. We gave up 10 transition points. I thought we eliminated that in the second half and we were able to extend our lead. I thought we played very smart offensively, we took advantage of mismatches, got the ball to the right players, and played very unselfishly. In the second half, we hit open guys and we were able to make some shots." - Joey Stiebing, Head Coach, Qadsia
"They played better especially at the end of the third quarter and the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, we didn't have the rotation today. We missed three players. The main player were under foul trouble and tired at the end of the game so our bench wasn't ready to play this kind of game. This is the Semi-Finals, and you need to be ready. You need all the players be ready to help, not six or seven or eight but 11. But we need to forget this game. We had a very, very bad shooting night, 0-for-20 from three, and this is the reason we lost the game." - Slobodan Subotic, Head Coach, Ittihad Club
FIBA