BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Shabazz Muhammad impressed in his WASL debut as he helped Beirut First Club clinch a Semi-Final seat following an 89-76 conquest of Orthodox Amman, Wednesday night at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex.

The former NBA player dropped 22 points, 10 of which he made in the fourth quarter that saw him join hands with Kenny Hayes for the breakaway towards securing the top seed in Group A of the West Asia League at 3-1.

Not only was it a triumphant start for 'Bazz' -- who also grabbed 9 rebounds -- but the victory also served as a fitting welcome for new head coach Ahmad Yamout.

Game heroes: Hayes top-scored for the Lebanese side with 23 points, alongside 3 rebounds, a team-high 8 assists, and a pair of steals.

Ali Haidar contributed 16 points and 7 rebounds, while Gerard Hadidian chipped in 13 markers, including 9 in the first half to help his side get the early lead.

TEP AHEAD Player of the Game: Hayes won STEP AHEAD Player of the Game honors after receiving 49-percent of the fan vote.

Turning point: Beirut were clinging to an eight-point lead early in the fourth until Hayes scored four consecutive to push their lead to a dozen points, 75-63.

Muhammad would help out afterwards for what would be a 10-2 run in total en route to an 81-65 lead with under five minutes left, and Orthodox Amman would never be able to trim the deficit to a single digit as they eventually lost their third outing.

Stats don't lie: Beirut shot 51-percent from the field, and capitalized on transition opportunities as they netted 28 points off the break.

They said: "It was a tough one especially since I got the position of head coach. At halftime we were only up by five so we had to do some adjustments especially at the start of the third quarter. The team played really well, the spirit was amazing. We were able to have the points distributed. Defensively we definitely gave a good second half. Proud of my team and everything they did this game." - Ahmad Yamout, Head Coach, Beirut Club

"Like Coach said, that team was very physical. The first half, I thought they kinda gave us some trouble in the paint and stuff like that. It kinda slowed the game down for us. I think we're more of an uptempo team. You look at the second half, we really started running those guys and looking inside and playing our game. I thought we really ran well and had a really good team spirit, really good energy on defense, We have to keep that up. That was a great thing for us tonight." - Shabazz Muhammad, Beirut Club

"This was kind of like a must-win if we want to move up in the group stage. But definitely a step in the right direction -- the first half, at least. Some things to go over. But gotta give it to them. They made their shots. They played better than us." - Freddy Ibrahim, Orthodox Amman

FIBA