DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - Lebanon extended their unbeaten streak to three in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers following a 99-77 beatdown of UAE for a strong Window 2 debut, Friday night at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.
Inspired by their compatriots that filled up what has become a historic venue, the Cedars jumped to a hot start before pulling away for good in the second period on the way to maintaining their hold of the Group F top spot with a clean 3-0 card.
Their Emirati counterparts, on the other hand, fell to their third loss in as many outings, making their remaining assignments extremely crucial.
Game heroes: Omari Spellman bannered the rout with 19 points and 5 rebounds, scoring 9 in the aforementioned quarter to lead the breakaway.
Wael Arakji finished with 16 points and 7 assists. Sergio El Darwich supplied 15 points and 7 rebounds, while Ali Haidar added 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. Amir Saoud chipped in 11 points in the 13 minutes he saw action.
Turning point: Lebanon found themselves in a tight affair during the second period until Spellman came in and sparked the decisive run. He nailed a triple and then scored off the break to give themselves a 43-31 lead with 2:29 to go.
Moments later, Arakji would score off a crafty drive to the cup before El Darwich hit a trey as the star guards pushed their lead to 48-33 before the period closed.
The Lebanese would stay in the lead since. Coach Miodrag Perisic's wards even led by as many as 31 points, 89-58, behind Ali Mansour with 5:36 left to play.
Stats don't lie: The Cedars shot an impressive 57.1-percent from the floor and dominated the boards, 41-27, as the presence of seasoned bigs Spellman and Haidar proved too much to contain for a UAE frontline led by Qais Omar Alshabebi.
They said: "I just want to say congratulations to our players. We put some very strong tempo [even if] we only practiced for 10 days. But we want to play. This kind of game, there were a lot of mistakes and turnovers. We didn't have good timing. But I'm very satisfied with our effort. I'm really happy that all players played, and this is the way how we would try to build a serious team in the future." - Miodrag Perisic, Head Coach, Lebanon
"I believe we all expected a rusty start since we haven't played for a while. But we were able to recover. Coach did his best to prepare us but still we needed some time to catch our rhythm and the momentum. Thankfully we recovered in the second half. We outran them, played tougher, and we were able to extend the lead. Alhamdullilah, we won the game." - Wael Arakji, Guard, Lebanon
"It was a tough game, you know, with the level of the national team of Lebanon. The best in Asia. I would say I'm semi-satisfied with the result. But, you know, they were faster, stronger, more experienced. We were able to compete in the first half but they came out strong at the beginning of the game, and they did the same in the third quarter. But as I said, the Lebanese team is a tough team to stay with for four quarters." - Jasem Mohamed Almaazmi, Center, UAE
FIBA