Orthodox Amman get second WASL win to boot Al-Ittihad Ahli out of contention

AMMAN (Jordan) - Orthodox Amman will head into the long break in high spirits as they snapped out of a two-game funk following a 100-85 romp of Al-Ittihad Ahli in WASL-West Asia, Thursday night at the Hamza Sport Hall in Amman.

Freddy Ibrahim, Ahmad Alhamarsheh, and Mohammad Hussein brought the hosts home, joining hands in restoring order in the fourth quarter after receiving a major threat that saw the opposition knock within just four early in the said period.

The Jordanian side collected their second win, improving to 2-2 at the expense of the same team they got their first -- a 59-40 victory last December 22 in Damascus that drew a record 6,700 fans.

Their Syrian counterparts, on the other hand, are now unable to mathematically advance to the Final Phase following the defeat. They remain winless in four outings.

Game heroes: Brandon Peterson bannered Orthodox Amman with 29 points and 16 rebounds, together with 4 assists and a steal.

Ibrahim finished with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Hussein produced 16 points and 8 rebounds, alongside 2 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks.

Darrin Dorsey registered his own double-double with 11 points and a new WASL record of 14 assists, 9 of which he made just in the first half.

Ashraf Alhendi also ended up with 11 markers on a trio of 3-pointers in the victory that saw all seven players fielded contribute at least 7 points.

Turning point: Shortly after Chris Darrington's perfect trip to the line, Hussein triggered an 8-0 run -- capped by an Ibrahim trey -- to widen Orthodox Amman's lead to 12, 85-73, approaching the last six minutes of the match.

They would never encounter any problem since, and even inflated their lead to as big as 19 points, 100-81, behind Hussein's trey with 1:20 left to play.

Stats don't lie: The home team shot 49-percent thanks to 27 assists on the way to eliminating Al-Ittihad Ahli from contention, making Group A the first to complete the playoff cast, with its remaining games to determine the team's seedings.

They said: "After Iran (ZobAhan) won against Beirut [Club], we know that this game is really important for us. We try to at least beat Syria [Al-Ittihad Aleppo] and secure the third place at least. We still have two games after the (break) so we try to take it game after game." - Ahmad Alhamarsheh, Orthodox Amman

"We did a good job in the first three quarters but the last quarter, they got us. Our focus now is on the Syrian league. Now we're out in WASL but we'll keep on improving." - Anthouny Bakar, Al-Ittihad Ahli

FIBA