Nearing Semis, El Hajj wants more consistency from Sagesse

GHAZIR (Lebanon) - Sagesse did beat Al Wahda via wire-to-wire fashion to move closer to the FIBA WASL-West Asia Semi-Finals, but it still left much to be desired for Coach Jad El Hajj.

Although it wasn't totally that bad, the veteran mentor would still want to see more consistency from his charges for the entire 40 minutes and not in certain stretches only.

"It wasn’t great. We won two quarters. We always try to control forty minutes," he offered during the postgame press conference of their 89-75 victory in Game 1 of their Qualification to Semi-Finals best-of-3 series, Thursday night at the Ghazir Club Stadium.

The Lebanese squad quickly caught fire from deep in the first quarter, nailing five of their 11 triples to establish a 32-16 advantage. However, their Syrian foes made the deficit a bit manageable in the following period to head into the break down by only 10, 43-33.

Winning the second period, 17-11, enabled Al Wahda to get some momentum and get to within just nine points in the third. Ahmad Ibrahim, though, was there to restore order for Sagesse, hitting back-to-back treys to give themselves a more comfortable 61-45 cushion.

The home team even grew the lead to as many as 24 points, 78-54, in the final period, but the visiting side managed to make the margin respectable by winning the period, 25-20.

Good thing for them, he said, was that they were able to mount huge leads in the quarters they won that proved to be too high of a wall for Al Wahda to climb out of.

"We controlled 20 which is not bad, especially we won two quarters with a big difference. Hopefully we work on it for next week to control more minutes," he said.

It should be worth noting as well that a hige reason behind the victory was Ibrahim, who provided the timely hits and eventually finished with a FIBA WASL personal-high 32 points, the fourth-most points scored in a single West Asia League game this season.

But the veteran forward refused to take the credit as he only hopes for Sagesse to keep their winning ways, especially now that they are just one win away from the sub-zone Semis.

"Of course, it’s part of the playoffs," the 32-year-old said regarding his stellar performance, which saw him tally an efficiency of 34. "But like I said, I just care about the team winning, and I was glad I was able to do that. But the most important thing is the win to me."

El Hajj, for his part, is hoping as well to see themselves pull through in Game 2 of the race-to-2 affair, which will be at the Al Fayhaa Stadium in Damascus.

"We spoke to the guys in the briefing that the most important thing when we play in the playoffs or in a knockout series is to get the win," he said.

FIBA