DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - Ittihad Club flipped the switch in the fourth quarter en route to a vengeful 94-88 victory over Shabab Al Ahli in the 2025-26 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) opener on Monday night.
The Saudi Basketball League outfit leaned on the troika of Mathna Almarwani, Nasser Alabsi, and Erick Neal for the telling 15-2 rally to erase a three-point deficit and turn it to a 79-69 lead with 5:49 remaining.
And there was no stopping the crew from then on as they caught fire from deep afterwards, with Jarrell Eddie nailing back-to-back triples to push their lead to its biggest at 85-73 approaching the final four minutes.
What the home team could only do was play catch-up and chop the gap as they could no longer find a second wind to turn the game around, much to the disappointment of the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.
It definitely couldn't get any sweeter for Ittihad as the stunner of a win somewhat atoned for last season's heartbreak after getting swept by the UAE powerhouse in the 2024-25 Gulf League best-of-3 Final.
"It's a great win for us, because last year we were here and we lost by two," said head coach Slobodan Subotic, referring to their 90-88 defeat in Game 1 of the best-of-3 titular series held in this very venue.
"This year we came here, this is a new team with three new foreigners and three locals. We knew we needed time and unfortunately we didn't practice together for a long time. So I have to give credit to my players," he added.
Neal starred in the triumph with a monster double-double of 25 points and 17 rebounds for an efficiency of 38.
Eddie finished with 19 points after nailing half of the team's 10 threes and also had 8 rebounds. Alabsi delivered 15 points off the bench, while Ibrahima Faye and Mathna Almarwani added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
"They fought very, very hard tonight. They understood that without defense, if we don't improve some of the things we need to in the game, we will not win. This was a great win for us," said the champion bench tactician.
Ittihad have now taken the early lead in Group A of the WASL-Gulf League, and will definitely look to make it two in a row when they take on Kazma on October 27, Monday, in Kuwait City. Game time is at 19:00 local time.
Put to naught by Shabab Al Ahli's defeat, on the other hand, was yet another stupendous showing by Deshawndre Washington, who led all scorers with 39 points - including 27 in the first half - with 9 rebounds and 7 assists.
Dikembe Dixson had 21 points. Qais Alshabebi made 15 points and 6 rebounds while comebacking WASL veteran Ater Majok notched a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds in a rough start to their title defense.
Shabab Al Ahli will have some time to recover and talk things over as they won't be playing until November 3, where they are set to take on Muharraq Club still in their own stomping grounds.
FIBA