Al Hilal eliminate Al Bashaer by 55 in record win

MUSCAT (Oman) - Al Hilal registered easily the most lopsided result in all of West Asia Super League (WASL) following their 103-48 blowout of the hard-lucked Al Bashaer, Monday night at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat.

The club from Saudi Arabia only needed little time to seize control of the game, eventually cruising to the 55-point victory in a rousing start to the league's resumption after a long break to give way to FIBA competitions.

Not only did the squad bolster their playoff bid by improving to 4-1 but Al-Hilal now own the WASL record for the biggest winning margin, eclipsing the 41 made by Gorgan when they defeated Al Naft, 110-69, last January 4 in Tehran, Iran.

It couldn't get any worse for Al Bashaer, who have now bowed out of contention after dropping their fifth game in as many games, losing by an average of 25.4 points.

Game heroes: All but two players scored in the record win, with Clint Chapman topping Al-Hilal with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.

Nasser Alabsi contributed 16 points, 11 of which he made in the opening period alone to help set the tone for the one-sided show. New recruit Tavarius Shine, the replacement for Mark Lyons, supplied 15 markers in his WASL debut.

Star big man Mo Alsuwailem went a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor en route to 12 points, along with 17 rebounds and 6 assists. Khalid Abdel Gabar finished with his own double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds with 3 steals.

STEP AHEAD Player of the Game: Alsuwailem earned STEP Player of the Game honors as he garnered 34-percent of the votes in the online fan poll.

Turning point: Al Bashaer actually got to within three with under three minutes left in the first period, but it would be the last time they'd get that close as Osama Albargawi sparked a 9-0 run to give Al Hilal a 26-14 advantage to end the quarter.

The visiting side would stay in cruise control since, scoring 51 points in the second and third quarters that left the the home team beyond overwhelmed.

Stats don't lie: Al Hilal shot 58-percent from the floor that included 11 triples, thanks to their unselfishness as they racked up 23 assists -- 15 clear of their foes.

Aside from ruling the boards, 51-30, Al Hilal converted converted Al Bashaer's 21 turnovers to 32 points. Bench production also played a huge factor as the winning crew received 38 from their reserves, while the opposition only got 8.

They said: "It was difficult to play the first game with everybody. We actually had four players that just came in this morning. We didn't really get to practice as a whole team but you can only control what you can control. Today our coaches said just play hard, play defense, and I think we did a good job today." - Khalid Abdel Gabar, Al Hilal

"After the result, the game looked like easy. But before the game we had some troubles. Because after the one-month break, we haven't had time to practice together due to the national team and Military Games. And the new player, Tavarius. He played easy with us and he helped us. I'm very happy about. I'm very happy about the victory today. Now we have the final [game] against Shabab Al Ahli, who takes first position in our group." - Efstratios Koukoulekidis, Head Coach, Al Hilal

FIBA