Riyadi 76 73 Mahram
STATS:
FADY EL KHATIB 25PTS
JEAN ABDELNOUR 15PTS
ISMAEL AHMAD 14PTS
LOREN WOODS
Article by Fiba Asia:
MANILA, Philippines (22nd FIBA Asia Champions Cup): Iranian defending champions Mahram and fellow WABA giants Al Riyadi Beirut, as expected, set the PhilSports Arena ablaze with some scintillating, spine-tingling and stimulating show of superlative basketball before the latter scraped through by the skin of their teeth 76-73 in a Group B game on Monday.
American Chris Williams scored a mammoth 32-point game-high and Samad Nikkhah Bahrami had an 18-point game but no other Mahram player scored in the double digit!
Fadi El Khatib, borrowed from Champville for this competition, led Riyadi’s scoring with 25 points and imports Ismail Ahmad and Loren Woods did their jobs to perfection.
Ahmad, an Egyptian, returning to the Riyadi colors after a two-year break scored 14 points and collected a game-high 15 rebounds.
And American Woods, who played a stellar role in Mahram’s title triumph last year, had 10 points and as many rebounds.
Mahram did well to pull back from a seemingly slipping situation when they went down by 9 points early in the fourth quarter, but let things slip through their fingers at the crunch moment.
Williams brought the score close to 71-74 with his customary drive in the lane and Mahdi Kamrani further reduced the margin catching the rival defense completely on the wrong foot, but committed a foul bringing El Khatib to the foul-line.
The seasoned campaigner of many a battle against Mahram missed the two free-throws, but Ahmad grabbed the rebound and relayed it back to El Khatib, who drew a foul on Hamed Afagh.
This time El Khatib proved too experienced to squander the opportunity.
Riyadi seemed to nudge ahead with a 7-0 run and closed the first quarter 10 points ahead, only to see Mahram return in kind scoring the first 10 points of the second quarter to bring parity.
The game went back into a thrilling phase of even exchanges and equal scoring till Riyadi made their move again in the fourth quarter and clinch the game.
Riyadi opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 spree with youngster Rodrigue Akl – on loan from Anibal – leading the charge and Ismail Ahmad played true to his reputation which game Riyadi a 12-point lead.
Again it was the turn of Mahram to hit back and take the game to the wire, but the Iranians fell at the post.
The spearheads of either side acknowledged Riyadi’s blazing start giving the advantage.
“I think we gave them the advantage early on,” bemoaned Bahrami.
“And I think that helped us put pressure early on and maintain it,” agreed Khatib.
“A game against Mahram is never easy, we knew that. I think we were hungrier tonight,” Khatib went on.
“Like I said earlier, we are here to win the title. So every win against any team is only a step closer in that direction as far as we are concerned,” Khatib said.
Riyadi coach Fouad Abouchakra, was however, concerned about the lack of assists.
“I think we need to spread the ball more,” he said. Riyadi had 8 assists over 2 steals as against Mahram’s 13 assists over 4 steals.
“Missing some crucial shots at the end of the game proved vital. There’s nothing more to say about such a great game,” Mahram’s assistant coach Mohammed Kasseipour, standing in for head coach Mehran Shahintab.
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