Kuwait Club stay perfect, keep hard-luck Al Nasr Riyadh winless in record victory

KUWAIT CITY (Kuwait) - Kuwait Club added to the miseries of Al Nasr Riyadh through a decisive 106-83 victory to remain unbeaten in WASL-Gulf, Tuesday night at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex in Kuwait City.

The home team roared to a 19-5 start to open the match and that marked the start of a one-sided affair, eventually registering their most convincing victory to date after figuring in down-the-wire encounters in the first two games.

By dealing the Saudi Arabian side (0-3) their worst loss thus far, Kuwait Club have regained sole leadership of Group B with a clean 3-0 slate.

Game heroes: Nearly all hands were on deck in the win, with Jacob Pullen guiding the way with 31 points alongside 3 rebounds and 5 assists.

Cody Lalanne flirted with a 20-20 outing -- a feat yet to be accomplished in the league -- as he finished with 23 points and 17 rebounds with 3 blocks. Marcus Georges-Hunt supplied 16 points and 7 rebounds.

Hasan Hamad almost had a triple-double with his 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists, while Mustafa Matwali chimed in 10 markers and 5 boards.

STEP AHEAD Player of the Game: Pullen earned STEP AHEAD Player of the Game honors, garnering 31-percent of the fan vote.

The 33-year-old guard undeniably deserved the citation especially for finishing the game strongly for his side, scoring 18 in the final period alone.

Turning point: Kuwait Club actually faced some resistance when the opposition knocked to within just four, but the tried and tested Pullen-Matwali connection sparked a 15-5 run to establish a 51-37 lead at the half.

They would stay ahead by double digits the rest of the way, and their lead even ballooned to as huge as 28 points, 106-78, late in the game.

Stats don't lie: Not only was it their most impressive win yet but Kuwait Club's 106 points are now the most by a team in WASL-Gulf, eclipsing the 99 set twice -- first by themselves and by Manama just last night in wins against Al Sadd.

They said: "We're up 3-0. That's good. But, it's not always about winning. Our aspiration is to be the first to win this tournament so we're gonna work on getting better, being consistent with the good things we do and being less consistent with the mistakes we make. I think we're heading the right way." - Peter Schomers, Head Coach, Kuwait Club

"Congratulations to the Kuwait team. I think they are the best team in Gulf, and a team that will fight for first place, for sure, for the championship. We came in with problems. We have four injured players ... Some periods I think we did a good job defensively and offensively but what we missed was Brandon [Austin's] defensive work. They made easy layups after rebounds, and second chances. I hope we recover." - Mensur Bajramovic, Head Coach, Al Nasr Riyadh

FIBA