KUWAIT CITY (Kuwait) - Kuwait Club are headed to where they wanted to be, after all.

The reigning Gulf League champions secured the remaining ticket to the sub-zone Semi-Finals by giving the upset-hungry Al-Ahli Jeddah the boot, 91-83, to cap off their FIBA WASL Season 2 Group Phase run, Monday night at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex.

Marcus Georges-Hunt and Turki Alshemmari led the way in the endgame to lift the home team from a 74-73 deficit with 5:27 left, leaning on vast experience to eventually get the monkey off their back after suffering successive losses to Muharraq and Al Rayyan.

Now they are headed to the Gulf League Semis for the second season in a row, a goal they set entering the tilt. They clinched the no. 1 seed in Group A with a 4-2 record after crushing the Final Phase hopes of their foes, who bowed out of contention with a 2-4 card.

Game heroes: Cady Lalanne led Kuwait Club with 20 points on 53.8-percent shooting from the field and 16 rebounds, together with 4 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks for an efficiency of 34 on the way to earning STEP AHEAD Player of the Game honors.

Georges-Hunt produced 18 points, 7 rebounds,  2 assists, a steal, and a block each for a full line as well. Tony Carr made 14 points while Hamad Hasan had 13 points, 3 dimes, and 6 boards.

Alshemmari chipped in 10 points. Omran Jawhar provided the same amount of points, alongside 7 rebounds and a pair of assists in the skid-ending victory.

Turning point: Alshemmari buried the go-ahead triple from the corner to give Kuwait Club the 76-74 advantage with 5:15 remaining in the game and that proved to be the beginning of the end for Al-Ahli Jeddah, who came into Kuwait City buoyed by a two-game win streak.

Lalanne helped add on to the lead afterwards but delivering the toughest blow was Georges-Hunt, who came through with a three-point play to make it an 81-76 edge with 2:25 left.

Alshemmari had a big block on opposing guard Marzouq Almuwallad and then converted his own three-point play to push their lead to eight with 1:38 left to play, and it would be all Kuwait Club as the visitors could no longer find any solution, much to their disappointment.

Stats don't lie: Coach Peter Schomers' wards moved the ball well and ended up with 23 assists, indeed an improvement after having only 14 against Al Rayyan the last time out.

They said: "It was a hell of a game. They came out here and fought. They fought hard all the way to the end. They played hard. They played well. But we had to come out and execute our offense, execute on defense, and get back playing Kuwait basketball, which was what we did. The last two minutes, we just locked in on defense, figured out how to make stops, and then score on the other end ... this is what we needed for what's coming up next." - Cady Lalanne, Kuwait Club

"I told the players to just close this page. Now we will fight in the Saudi League. We'll be back in WASL next year. I promise everybody that we will try to do that." - Ali Alsanhani, Head Coach, Al-Ahli Jeddah

FIBA