Dubai
The UAE continued with their learning process with an exciting 80-78 result against Al Ittihad, Libya for their second win, while Sporting Club, Lebanon made it three wins in-a-row while thrashing the Nlex Road Warriors from Philippines 111-83 in the 26th Dubai International Basketball Tournament on Sunday.
Easy winners against Egypt’s Zamalek on Saturday, the Al Habtoor-sponsored UAE side had the match in their control most of the time till a sudden surge in the final five minutes saw the Libyans come close.
But the UAE just hung in there and came out with full points to book their place in the knockout stages despite having one last match against the Nlex Road Warriors still in hand.
Coach Zoran Zupcevic, who had to use point guard Saleh Sultan sparingly due to an injury, was a relieved man. “Yet again we continued with our learning process to improve as a team. The challenge was to ensure we came home with full points while using our substitutes. This [Al Ittihad] is a very physical team and we had to be at our best to ensure we won tonight,” Zupcevic told Gulf News.
“Tomorrow [Monday] will be a completely different challenge as we try to better the team from the Philippines. The good thing is that we are improving as a team and we can take things forward with this,” he added.
The UAE broke off for the second period with a three-point advantage at 24-21 with Omar Qais once again leading the scoring with seven points. By half-time, the home team had a nine-point lead at 41-32.
Going into the final period with a 15-point cushion at 66-51, the Libyans came alive and the home team lost their focus as their opponents drew closer at 68-63 with final five minutes remaining.
The visitors pressed forward in numbers and the UAE showed signs of panic as Mohammad Milad sunk in a three-pointer to come within a point at 78-79. But Saleh Khalifa held his nerve with 5.6 seconds remaining to convert one of two charities as the Libyans ran out of time.
In the second match of the evening, former two-time champions Sporting Club of Lebanon handed the NLEX Road Warriors with a 111-83 drubbing in their third round Group A action.
The Road Warriors had opened with an 81-71 win against Al Ittihad of Libya on Friday, and much was expected from the Al Thornton-led team from the PBA League. But the team from Lebanon simply took the match away right from the start and never looked behind with birthday boy Amir Saud top-scoring with 21 points.
