Palestine start Road to Asia Cup 2025 journey with exciting home win

DOHA (Qatar) & JENIN (Palestine) - Palestine start their journey on the Road to Asia Cup 2025 with an impressive win against Iraq, 91-81, to the delight of the hometown fans in Jenin. Meanwhile, Qatar also celebrated a win at home against Oman, 73-62.

In Jenin, the players and fans roared in celebration and took the time to shake hands and embrace after what was an emotional come-from-behind win. Palestine had to come from behind from as much as 10 points, but blasted for a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter onwards to the win.

Michel Massri scored 14 points in this game and it was his three-pointer in the middle of the fourth quarter that game Palestine the lead for good.

The star of this game for Palestine was Jamal Mayali who played all 40 minutes of the contest on his way to 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. While Mayali dealt damage from the perimeter, it was Shane Osayade who provided the muscle in the paint with 20 points and 13 rebounds in his Palestine national team debut.

Jamal Mayali

Iraq actually started the game off down 8-0, but clawed their way back and got in control throughout the middle of the contest. The wing tandem of Hassan Abdullah and Demario Mayfield provided the bulk of the scoring with Abdullah pouring in a team-high 23 points. Mayfield scored less with 21 points, but flirted with a triple-double as he recorded 8 rebounds and 11 assists.

Meanwhile in Doha, though Qatar were able to come away with the win, Oman did not make it easy.

The home team started out strong with a 10-0 run, but Oman chipped away to come in to as close as 3 points as the second half started. Nonetheless, Qatar were able to slip away with a win, despite some dry spells that allowed Oman to come close time and again.

Babacar Dieng and Moustafa Fouda combined for more than half of Qatar’s points. As Fouda scored a team-high 23 points, Dieng recorded 22 points and 5 boards.

Oman’s big man Mahmood Al-Souli was impressive for the visiting team, leading the team in minutes played while also posting 18 points on 3 three-pointers to go with 7 rebounds. Hadid Bait Bakhit, however, was the leading scorer of the team with 19 points.

Both Qatar and Palestine will get one day of rest before playing their next games on July 4. Oman will play UAE tomorrow (June 3) while Iraq faces Kuwait, with both games played at 7:00 PM (GMT +3).

FIBA