Al Riyadi Beirut lift their first FIBA Asia Champions Cup – How they won it? (Part-2)
Link for part-1: http://www.senore.com/Al-Riyadi-Beirut-lift-their-first-FIBA-Asia-Champions-Cup-How-they-won-it-Part-1-a74064
Round 4: Lebanon’s Al Riyadi 78 – Qatar’s Al Rayyan 73
Al Riyadi Beirut of Lebanon mounted a tremendous comeback in the fourth quarter to take the game into the overtime and then sealed a magnificent 78-73 victory over the last year’s runner up Al Rayyan of Qatar. Al Riyadi romped
to 20-9 run in the last 10 minutes of the game and clinched their third straight win of the tournament.
Ismail Abdel Moneim Ismail Ahmed was the star performer for Lebanese side and led the scoring with a point-rebound double-double. Ismail Ahmed landed a game-high 24 points and clutched 12 rebounds to spearhead Al Riyadi for a thrilling
win. Loren G Woods also racked up 18 points and 17 boards to support Al Riyadi down the stretch.
On the other hand, Targuy Alban Ngombo posted a brilliant performance for Al Rayyan and shared a game-high 24 points with Ismail Ahmed. He also gathered 11 rebounds to keep the Qataris in a competitive position throughout the game.
However, Al Riyadi’s assail in the crunch time overshadowed the super efforts of Ngombo as the Lebanese team wrapped up another victory in the tournament.
Even though Ismail and Woods dominated the proceedings, however they could not have achieved the victory without El Cheikh Fadi El Khatib’s support. The face of Al Riyadi Khatib chipped in with 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists
on the night.
Round 5: Lebanon’s Al Riyadi 86 – Syria’s Al Jalaa 73
After cementing their slot for the quarterfinals and ensuring a number one seed in Group B, the streaking Al Riyadi Beirut let their the bench make the play in their fourth game of the tournament against the Syrian champions Al
Jalaa. Al Riyadi’s reserve responded proficiently to their coach Fouad Abou Chakra’s call and outshined the Syrian team with a comprehensive 86-73 victory.
Fouad said on playing his bench before the quarterfinals, “We meant no disrespect to our opponents. But we had nothing at stake. Moreover, we had two tough back-to-back games. And we have the play-offs ahead of us. There was no
better opportunity for us to try the bench giving our main players a well earned rest.”
Amir Saoud spearheaded the reserves with a game-high 28 points and lead Al Riyadi to their fourth win in as many games. Omar El Turk and William Carl Pharis also carried the slack and scored 18 points apiece to keep the Lebanon
team on the frontline.
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