MEDINA (Saudi Arabia) - Al Ula brought themselves back into the top-seed conversation in Group B of the 2025-26 FIBA WASL-Gulf League following a vengeful 88-58 victory over Kuwait Club on Tuesday night.
Hungry to avenge the 113-108 loss they suffered in their first meeting last October, the Saudi Basketball League outfit wasted no time seizing control of the match to eventually make things interesting in the pool.
With the wire-to-wire triumph, the Arabian Leopards have now gained a share of the no. 1 spot with the former two-time Sub-Zone League winners as both teams are now carrying identical 3-2 records.
The convincing win also served as a warm welcome to Izzat Ismail, who replaced Stratos Koukouleikidis as their new head coach as the club underwent a major change just weeks before 2025 came to a close.
"It was a good game for us," said the Lebanese mentor, who previously coached in the FIBA EuroCup Women. "We prepared really well. I joined the team three weeks ago, and we knew that it's not gonna be an easy game."
Usual suspects such as Wael Arakji starred anew with 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists but Al Ula showed that there could be more than just their celebrated reinforcements with the way the others stepped up.
Abdulaziz Alalawi stood out among the local support as he finished with 16 points, half of which he produced in the opening period to help his side race to a sizzling 20-4 start, setting the tone for an affair so lopsided.
Perfect was the 28-year-old guard from the floor as made all 6 of his shots, including a 4-for-4 clip from deep en route to submitting easily his best game yet of the season. He also had 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
Thon Maker had 16 points as well, along with 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Mo Alsuwailem came through with a double-double of his own with 13 points and 14 rebounds, while Jonathan Gibson added 14 in the rout.
More than yet another splendid offensive showing, what Ismail felt truly proud of was his charges' effort on defense, especially after hitting their target of limiting the visiting side to under 70 points.
"If we want to beat them, we have to play defense today," he said. "We are a good offensive team. We can score a hundred points at any day, at any time. But also, they're (Kuwait Club) a great offensive team."
"And to beat them, we have to keep them under 70. You saw they scored 58, and we achieved the goal," he added. "The most important part now is to stay humble, do not over-celebrate, and just think of the next games."
Still, that kind of balanced attack surely left all of Kuwait Club envious after only two players finished in double figures in the defeat, which also put a screeching halt to their fiery three-game winning streak.
Joffrey Lauvergne finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Charlie Moore backed him up with 17 points and 5 assists as the duo hardly received any help from the others, with Jamal Jones, for instance, held scoreless.
"We didn't show better energy today. From the first minute of the game, we weren't ready, especially offensively," rued Coach Dusan Stojkov. "In the ideas that we had, we didn't respond well, we didn't find the good shots."
FIBA