ZOUK MIKAEL (Lebanon) - Al Riyadi bolstered their chances of finishing atop the 2025-26 FIBA WASL-West Asia League standings after completing a Group Phase sweep of Shahrdari Gorgan, 95-89, Wednesday night.
Maurice Kemp, Perin Buford, and Ali Mansour headed the strong fourth-quarter closeout, as the reigning champs showed much better finishing this time as compared to their previous meeting in Tehran last December.
They had to be bailed out by Hayk Gyokchyan back then, but no longer needed as much this time around following a fare more consistent showing to eventually wrap up their preliminaries with a 6-2 win-loss record.
Now, the Lebanese powerhouse would need BC Astana (5-2) to lose against the also-ran Al Wahda SC tomorrow night to formally secure the no. 1 spot entering the Semi-Finals, which officially begins in March.
"It's very important," said head coach Ahmad Farran about their bid of clinching the top seed. "When you have a team like Riyadi and behind us is a big fanbase, our target always is to secure homecourt advantage."
"Whoever's gonna be our opponents in the Semi-Finals, it would be very hard for them to beat us at home with a full house," he added proudly. "And I can assure you now, it will be a full house whoever the opponent is."
Kemp, back in action after missing their previous outing versus Astana, led Riyadi with 25 points alongside 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals without a turnover, thus earning Capelli Sport Player of the Game honors.
Buford came through with 21 points and 5 rebounds. Nuni Omot delivered 15 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. Gyokchyan supplied 12 points and 5 rebounds, while Mansour registered an 11-4-7 stat line.
Mansour himself put themselves ahead for good early in the fourth, knocking down his lone triple of the night for the 75-72 lead before Amir Saoud, Buford, and Kemp helped widen the spread to 83-76 with 5:10 to go.
The visitors, though, came to within a field goal twice entering the last three minutes of the match, but Buford was there to douse cold water in their attempt with back-to-back hits to push their lead 91-85 with 2:09 left.
And then came Mansour with the dagger, swishing in a pull-up jumper from the perimeter to make it 93-86 with 47.3 seconds left, all but sealing the crucial victory for the Sub-Zone League's 'four-peat' hunters.
Put to naught by the defeat were the efforts of Jordan Hamilton for Gorgan, as the former NBA forward fired 40 points on 16-of-25 shooting from the field, including 5-of-11 from deep, along with 8 rebounds.
Perry Petty backed him up with 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. Meisam Mirzaei chipped in 11 points and 7 rebounds for the Iranian side, which fell to its fourth straight loss - a skid that began against Riyadi.
Gorgan fell to 3-4 following the loss and will look to head into the Semi-Finals on a winning note when they take on Sagesse for their final game of this round, the date and venue of which to be communicated soon.
FIBA