Al Naft-Al Riyadi, Orthodox-Beirut Club banner Week 2 of West Asia competitions
BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Sole leaderships will be vied for as unbeaten teams lock horns in the second week of the WASL-West Asia competitions.
BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Sole leaderships will be up for grabs as unbeaten teams cross paths in Week 2 of the WASL-West Asia competitions.
Orthodox Amman are out to place themselves atop Group A alone against Beirut Club, while Al Naft and Al Riyadi will dispute the no. 1 seed in Group B in a pair of highly-anticipated matches sure to cap off the year with a bang.
Group A
| GAMES | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Orthodox Amman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 59 | 40 | 19 | 59 | 40 | 2 |
| 2 | Beirut Club | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 73 | 56 | 17 | 73 | 56 | 2 |
| 3 | ZobAhan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 56 | 73 | -17 | 56 | 73 | 1 |
| 4 | Al-Ittihad Ahli | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 59 | -19 | 40 | 59 | 1 |
Group B
| GAMES | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Al Naft | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 89 | 66 | 23 | 89 | 66 | 2 |
| 2 | Al Riyadi | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 81 | 74 | 7 | 81 | 74 | 2 |
| 3 | Gorgan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 74 | 81 | -7 | 74 | 81 | 1 |
| 4 | Alkaramah | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 66 | 89 | -23 | 66 | 89 | 1 |
28 December 2022
Gorgan vs Alkaramah - 16:30 GMT+3:30 - Tehran, Azadi Basketball Hall
Al Naft vs Al Riyadi - 18:00 GMT+3 - Baghdad, Al Shaeb Hall
29 December 2022
Orthodox Amman vs Beirut Club - TBC - Amman, Prince Hamza Sport Hall
ZobAhan vs Al-Ittihad Ahli - 16:30 GMT+3:30 - Tehran, Azadi Basketball Hall
Al Naft and Al Riyadi will serve as the main event of Wednesday night's double-header at the former's home court in Al Shaeb Hall in Baghdad, a battle of teams looking to follow up their big wins from opening week.
The ball club from Iraq opened West Asia action with an 89-66 demolition of Alkaramah on the road for the week's most lopsided result.
Al Riyadi, on the other hand, dealt the visiting Gorgan an 81-74 defeat in a highly emotional encounter between two potential WASL rivals.
Gorgan and Alkaramah have a shot to enter the Group B win column but only one will go first as they face one another in Wednesday's opener.
Thursday, meanwhile, will see Orthodox Amman host Beirut Club at the Prince Hamza Sport Hall although match time has yet to be confirmed.
The Jordanian side is looking to build off the momentum they got from that 59-40 win over Al-Ittihad Ahli at the latter's own turf, and the same goes for the Lebanese team after their 73-56 mauling of ZobAhan at home.
Like Wednesday's affair, the squads coming off loses will lock horns, with ZobAhan hosting their Syrian counterparts at the Azadi Basketball Hall also.
STAR TO WATCH
Edgar Sosa, Al Naft
Edgar Sosa drew lots of attention after setting WASL's scoring record in Al Naft's masterful showing over Alkaramah in front of over 6,000 fans.
There, the 34-year-old veteran rifled 36 points on 9 3-pointers, although that 23-point victory wasn't totally all about him as he also dished out 10 assists, and collected 3 rebounds, and 3 steals for an efficiency rating of 36.
It would be interesting to see if he can continue his scoring ways as he goes up against Al Riyadi, where he will be pitted against his fellow star guard in Wael Arakji, who's out for redemption after a premature exit the last time out.
FIBA