DOHA (Qatar) & JENIN (Palestine) - The First Round of the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers in Groups A and B wrapped up with two close games, with Palestine and Qatar celebrating victories at home one more time.

Palestine had to rally from behind once again, putting on a show for the home crowd with yet another exciting win, 85-78.

The home team found themselves down by as much as 8 points in the second half, but were powered by their fans to complete another fourth quarter run. Shane Osayande capped off a 10-0 run with 4 minutes to go in the game to hold on to the lead for good.

Osayande was the main force for Palestine with another double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds while adding 2 blocks and a steal in the process. Jamal Mayali cooled down a bit from his explosion in the previous game, ending up with 11 points but also dishing out 7 assists.

Another key contributor was Ahmed Haroon, who put up a well-rounded effort of 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Kuwait had a balanced offense on their end with four players scoring in double-digits, led by Hamad Hasan’s 19 points. Mustafa Matwali had an impressive first half, but slowed down to finish with 13 points and 7 rebounds.

The win keeps Palestine’s record perfect heading into the Second Round of the Pre-Qualifiers, while Kuwait will have to go home empty handed from this round.

Meanwhile, in Doha, Qatar survived an upset bid from UAE, 54-48. They saw their 11-point lead evaporate in the final quarter with just a few minutes left in the game, but were still able to hang on to win with some key hustle plays.

While Qatar struggled from the charity stripe in this game at 52.4 percent, they were able to ice the game with 4 straight made free-throws. The two big men of Qatar, Nedim Muslic (8 points, 10 rebounds) and Ndoye Seydou (4 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks) were the anchors for Qatar on the board in this game.

UAE struggled to get their offense going, shooting only 27.0 percent from the field, but did a solid job of staying in the game by forcing Qatar into 22 turnovers. Qais Omar Alshabebi recorded a double-double in this game with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Rashed Naser Alzaabi lead the game in scoring with 16 points.

Qatar end the First Round of the Pre-Qualifiers at home with a perfect record, while UAE will head into the Second Round 1-1.

FIBA