ZOUK MIKAEL (Lebanon) - Comfortable victories have quite become hard to come by for Al Riyadi in the two games they have played thus far in the 2025-26 FIBA WASL-West Asia League competitions.
But as they say, it's not really how you start but how you finish, and the pan-regional tilt's defending two-time champions have embodied as much nicely - thus, the favorable position they've placed themselves into.
"It shows great character. We're sticking together as a team," lauded Hayk Gyokchyan.
The star forward offered as much moments after they wrote yet another chapter of the Beirut Derby in their favor following an 87-80 victory over Sagesse SC last November 12 at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex.
It was their second win in as many games, one that they needed to grind out like what they did to ensure a successful start to their campaign against another comebacking team in Al Wahda SC last November 5.
Riyadi got themselves a long night in that encounter, having trailed by as many as nine points early that an upset appeared on sight when they stared at a 71-69 deficit approaching the game's last six minutes.
We're coming up big, coming up making clutch plays when it matters most.
But they braved on, and eventually finished the game strongly with a 7-0 run thanks to the troika of Bilal Tabbara, Perrin Buford, and Maurice Kemp to come away with the nine-point win against the visiting Syrians.
And it was almost the same situation against the Green Castle.
They actually found themselves down by 11 during the second quarter but chopped as much gradually, before putting together a solid windup which Buford, Kemp, and Ivan Buva bannered to seal the W.
Buford himself knocked down the trifecta that broke a 74-all knot and put them ahead for good, before his fellow reinforcements came in to apply the finishing touches to seize the provisional lead in the five-time field.
To be showcasing such poise whenever the going gets tough leaves those like Gyokchyan beaming with so much pride, with how they're finding ways to succeed even when the odds seem to stack against them.
"We're coming up big, coming up making clutch plays when it matters most," said the 35-year-old, who was also instrumental in the triumph with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting alongside 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
"Even if we're down or the other team's making a run, we have the resiliency to stop them and everyone made their shots at the end to win the game," the former Lebanese men's national team standout furthered.
What he appreciated in particular was the hustle and grit they displayed as a collective against Sagesse, whom they sent down to 0-2 in the standings - quite an unfamiliar situation for the 2024 WASL runners-up .
"What I loved most was everyone was diving on the floor to get loose balls, and plays like that gave us an edge to win this game," he said. "I'm just proud that all the strategy and all the hard work we did is paying off."
Gyokchyan is liking the progress he's been seeing so far within a team that's still figuring things out following the departure of stars and addition of new guys, but at the same time believes that they can still get better.
"We're getting better game by game," he said.
"We just gotta put together longer stretches where we're playing together."
FIBA