Heroes aplenty as Gorgan ward off gritty Alkaramah for first win

TEHRAN (Iran) - Gorgan outlasted the hard-fighting Alkaramah, 83-78, to barge into the WASL-West Asia win column, Wednesday night at the Azadi Basketball Hall.

Perry Petty and Salar Monji kept the visitors at arm's length while the grizzled tandem of Mohammed Jamshidi and Behnam Yakhchali came through for the finishing touches to complete the bounce-back victory.

Definitely motivated by that road loss to Wael Arakji and Al Riyadi last week, Gorgan have also pushed Alkaramah to the bottom of Group B with a 0-2 slate.

Game heroes: Jamshidi led the way with 28 points on a 52.3-percent field goal clip, on top of 6 rebounds and 8 assists in nearly 36 minutes of play.

Petty supplied 18 points, 6 boards, 5 dimes, and a pair of steals, while Yakhchali provided 14 markers and 6 feeds as the 3 starters carried the load on offense.

Monji, meanwhile, flirted with a double-double as he tallied 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Turning point: Gorgan once led by ten points during the third quarter but the opposition threatened and knocked to within just 4 points, 66-62, behind Omar Cheikh Ali with 5:32 remaining in the deciding frame.

That's when Petty came through, nailing back-to-back triples in what was a shootout between him and Abdul Aleem to push their lead to 9, 74-65.

Alkaramah did not go down without a fight, still, but they could not get any closer as Monji, Jamshidi, and Yakhchali were there to make sure that they won't do so.

And proving to be the dagger was Antanas Udras' bucket from point-blank to make it 83-76 in favor of the home team with only 8 seconds left to play.

Stats don't lie: Gorgan forced Alkaramah to 16 turnovers and turned it to 17 points.

They said: "Congratulations to [Alkaramah]. They did a great job. We saw the first game and they improved a lot ... I think they played good defense that's why it was a close game." - Mohammad Jamshidi, Gorgan

"I'm so proud of my guys because we are getting better and better every single week and we are working so hard in practice to improve our game, our chemistry. It showed tonight ... we're gonna continue to get better and represent Syria very well." - Abdul Aleem, Alkaramah

FIBA