Haidar, Hayes power Beirut Club in home win over ZobAhan

BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Ali Haidar and Kenny Hayes proved to be a lethal combo as Beirut Club opened their WASL campaign on the right foot by way of a 73-56 beatdown of ZobAhan, Thursday night at the Nouhad Nawfal Stadium.

Combining for over half of the team's output, the two were pivotal in the second-half surge that saw them pull away for good in the final chapter after allowing the opposition to taste the lead from 10 down early in the second stanza.

Beirut Club joined Orthodox Amman as the early winners in West Asia's Group B. The club from Jordan conquered Al-Ittihad Ahli through a dominant 59-40 showing in Aleppo earlier in front of a WASL record attendance of over 6,700.

Game heroes: Hayes finished with 23 points and 6 assists, while Haidar produced 22 points and 6 rebounds.

Kenneth Horton registered a double-double of 12 markers - spiked by a pair of 3-pointers -- and 10 boards as he helped the duo out in the fourth-quarter breakaway.

A total of 8 players scored at least 2 points in the win.

Leading ZobAhan, meanwhile, was led by Amir Gholizadeh with 11 points as he's the lone double-digit scorer for his side.

Turning point: After scoring 9 in the third canto alone, Hayes would go on to flex his playmaking by dishing a dime to Horton for a triple to open the game's final quarter.

That connection would spark a 9-2 run for Beirut Club en route to a 60-47 lead with 7:23 remaining.

Never would the home team let up since. With the aforementioned trio joining forces, their lead rose to as high as 18, 71-53, following Hayes' perfect trip to the line with 1:58 left.

Stats don't lie: Beirut Club shot 48-percent from the field and flat-out dominated the boards, 40-25.

FIBA