Smart Gilas Pilipinas and Al Riyadi Beirut win – FIBA Asia Champions Cup Day 4 Roundup (Part 1)
Smart Gilas 74 – Duhok 64
Pilipinas Smart Gilas the host of the tournament resisted a strong third quarter surge to overcame the Iraq’s Duhok in a 74-64 win in an important game of Group-A on Tuesday.
Marcus Douthit guided the Smart Gilas attack with his brilliant double-double in which he scored 14 points, clutched 15 rebounds along with three blocked shots.
CJ Giles, who used to be a member of Smart Gilas led Duhok by scoring 20 points.
Giles said, “They (Smart Gilas) are a much better team now. A lot more systematic.”
The Smart Gilas secured the first quarter 21-17 as they overpowered the Duhok in the final five minutes of the first quarter with an 11-7 run. Pilipinas carried the same momentum in the second quarter as they thumped 26 points
in the period and stretched their lead into double-digit. The Duhok were limited to 18 points during that frame.
Smart Gilas led the Duhok 47-35 into the third quarter, but lost the touch after the break as Iraqi team bounced back in the game when they cut the deficit down to 55-53 before the Pilipinas nipped their surge with some quick replies.
This really dented the spirits of the Iraqi team as they started fading away from there on wards, as Smart Gilas limited the Duhok to their lowest score (11 points) in a quarter in the entire game and grabbed the victory by 10-point
margin.
Al Riyadi Beirut 78 – Al Rayyan 73
In Group-B Al Riyadi Beirut unleashed Ismail Abdel Moneim Ismail Ahmed, who scored 24 points along with 12 boards to lift his team above Qatar’s Al Rayyan in a 78-73 overtime win on Tuesday.
Both teams looked to dominate each other right from the tip of the first quarter. It was Al Riyadi, who eventually got hold of the situation and left Al Rayyan behind as they used 8-5 spree in the ensuing minutes of the period
to led Qatari squad by 18-15.
However, Al Rayyan didn’t let Al Riyadi slip away and sealed the second quarter in their by using an 18-8 surge and pushed the advantage to 35-29 at the halftime.
Al Riyadi made a desperate attempt to snatch the lead from Al Rayyan after the break and they successfully notched it down to just three, but failed to get in front as Qatari team secured another quarter in their favour this time
with a 13-7 rush.
Al Riyadi jumped back in the final quarter as they rattled Al Rayyan with a 20-9 burst and Rodrigue AKL capped the rally with his crucial two point shot that knotted the scores at 70 and pushed the game into extra time.
The unbeaten Al Riyadi outplayed the runners up of last year’s FIBA Championship Al Rayyan 8-3 in the overtime. Ismail Ahmed was the major contributor for Al Riyadi, scored four points during the period.
From Al Rayyan, Targuy Alban Ngombo led the pack with 24 points and 11 boards.
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