Al Riyadi edge past Mahram 76-73: FIBA Asia Champions Cup Recap
Al Riyadi of Lebanon squeaked past the defending champions Mahram of Iran in a 76-73 victory on Monday at the Philsports Arena during a group B game of FIBA Asia 2011.
El Cheikh Fadi El Khatib led Al Riyadi with 25 points along with nine assists and two rebounds.
Khatib said “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.”
Both teams made a sluggish start before Rodrigue Akl put the first points on boards (2-0) for the Al Riyadi. By the time first quarter was half way through the Al Riyadi stretched their lead to a 10-6 advantage, before Lebanon
side completely outplayed the Mahram with a 14-6 surge and ended the quarter by leading them 24-14.
Trailing by 10 points into the second quarter the defending champs Mahram made a furious comeback and the set the stage on fire with their 10-0 spurt that tied the scores at 24 all, within the first two minutes of quarter, Christopher
Williams led the rally with six points including two from the free throw line.
However, Al Riyadi tried to nip Mahram’s surge with a brisk 4-0 gush, but the Iranians didn’t let the momentum slipped away and had every answer for the Lebanese’s move. Before the title holder’s led the Al Riyadi 39-37 into the
halftime.
The battle for the domination continued after the break as the scores remained tied on three occasions. Al Riyadi snatched the lead (45-43) from the Mahram in 7:26 minutes and there after didn’t allow the Iranians to come in front,
despite they knotted the scores twice. Mahram would have been the in charge of another quarter, if M.Samad Nikkhah Bahrami and Mahdi KAMRANI didn’t miss their three-point attempts in the last few seconds of the period.
After securing the third quarter by 59-56, Al Riyadi gained the boost they required and that also reflected in their game as they bombarded the Mahram with 9-0 run that pushed the score to 68-56. Just when Mahram looked dull and
dejected to Al Riyadi, they hit them back with a 14-6 spree and slashed the deficit to just one (74-73).
However, Mahram once again failed to make the best of the opportunity, as Al Riyadi limited them and El Cheikh Fadi El Khatib made two successive free throws (76-73) to push the game in Lebanon’s favour with just nine seconds to
go.
Besides Khatib, Jean Abd El Nour scored 15 and Ismail Abdel Moneim Ismail Ahmed made 14 points for Al Riyadi.
Christopher Williams scored game-high 32 points for Mahram, besides him just M.Samad Nikkhah Bahrami made it into the double-digits, scoring 18 points.
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