ALEPPO (Syria) - Shahrdary Gorgan took a major step in their road to redemption following another dominant win over Al-Ittihad Ahli in FIBA WASL Season 2, Thursday night.

Hardly bothered by the Syrian crowd, the visiting Iranian side bucked a slow start and rolled to an 80-65 victory to secure the first Semi-Finals ticket in the West Asia League.

With this 5-and-0 streak, [it's because] we're a team. We mesh together. We understand each other.

"I like the atmosphere. I love the fans here. They're very intense. The team is very decent. We just came to play, at the end of the day," offered Norvel Pelle moments after the victory at the Al Hamadaniyeh Stadium. "Great job. On to the next one for us."

The 30-year-old Pelle himself was key in the Semis-clinching win, finishing with 20 points, 8 rebounds, a steal, and a block as he helped turn things around in the middle quarters after seeing themselves trailing by five, 18-13, after the game's first 10 minutes.

He's really been an integral piece for the reigning, three-time Iranian champs this season. After Thursday, they are now unbeaten through five games to stay on top of Group A, with him posting 12.6 points and 7.5 rebounds along with 2.4 blocks per outing.

Big thanks to his presence, the ball club is now bound for another Semis appearance, continuing what they are surely hoping to become a tradition started by the previous batch, spearheaded by the star combination of Mohammad Jamshidi and Behnam Yakhchali.

The former Lebanese men's team standout, though, doesn't want to take all the spotlight onto himself, deflecting the credit to the team as a whole for their success thus far.

Well, against Al-Ittihad Ahli alone, Pelle received solid contributions from usual suspects such as Will Cherry (19 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals) and Sina Vahedi (17-4-7-2-1).

"We just play hard day in and day out," said the 2.08 M (6'10") slotman. "With this 5-and-0 streak, [it's because] we're a team. We mesh together. We understand each other."

Pelle also refuses to get too high with the triumph, believing that they still have plenty more to work on in order to become an even better bunch come the Semi-Finals.

"For sure. We can go back to the drawing board, edit those things we need to fix. But so far, we've been playing as one team," he said.

FIBA