Shabab Al Ahli send Al Nasr Riyadh packing, to meet Kuwait Club in semis

 DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai refused to take part in another tight affair as they blew out Al Nasr Riyadh, 93-71, to reach the WASL-Gulf Semi-Finals, Tuesday night at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.

Showing how much they've learned from last week's one-point Game 2 loss, the home team broke away wide in the second quarter and no longer allowed the opposition to come any closer en route to winning the series, 2-1.

The Emirati side will now turn their attention to Kuwait Club in the semis. The best-of-3 affair starts next Tuesday at the latter's home floor at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex.

Game heroes: Mohammad Mubarak Alajmani led Shabab Al Ahli's balanced attack with a WASL personal-best 24 points on 12-of-14 field goal shooting as he provided the unlikely spark to a side missing Qais Omar Alshabebi due to an injury.

Alajmani was just averaging 3.7 points prior to Game 3 and his timely eruption were all enough to earn him STEP AHEAD Player of the Game honors.

Nick Minnerath was in his element as usual with 22 points alongside a season-high 14 rebounds for just his first-ever double-double performance of the tournament.

Brandon Triche had 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists for his best game in a long while. Hamid Abdullateef Albreiki provided 15 points, while Milan Milosevic chipped in 10 markers as five players scored in double figures in the triumph.

Turning point: Triche scored the first five of a 7-0 run towards a 37-22 early in the second period, and Shabab Al Ahli would never see their lead get chopped to a single digit from that point on. They led by as many as 26 points.

Stats don't lie: Thanks hugely to their 21 assists, Shabab Al Ahli shot an impressive 57-percent from the floor.

They said: "It's just representing UAE as a nation. You know, being the team from Dubai, we wanna represent the region really well. So, this is important. We're playing for Shabab Al Ahli, but we're also playing for the other clubs around the league, as well as representing for UAE. So it's really important 'cause you know, we know that a lot of guys we play locally are watching, and also supporting us. We have a lot of support. For me personally, I've been here now three years, so this club is a family to me, so of course, I wanna do well. And also, help the team do well. I think that we deserve it. I think right now we're playing pretty good basketball, so I think we're representing UAE really well." - Brandon Triche, Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai

"It takes a lot of focus. More than physical, it's more mental. I think mentally, we just weren't ready for this Game 3." - Antonio Campbell, Al Nasr Riyadh

FIBA