WABA League – Riyadi draw first blood inTehran

TEHRAN (WABA League) - With their offensive panache holding the sway, Al Riyadi Beirut of Lebanon handed down a 94-90 defeat to twice defending champions Mahram of Iran in game one of the WABA League 2011 semi-finals at the Azadi Arena on Tuesday.

It was Riyadi’s first win against Mahram in six meetings between the teams in official competition.

Riyadi will host Mahram in game two of the best-of-three series at Beirut next Tuesday.

Syria’s Al Jala’a are 1-0 up in the other semi-final series and travel to Esfahan to play Iran’s Zob Ahan next Monday.

American Nate Johnson led Riyadi’s scoring with a game-high 24 points and complemented it with 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.

Loren Woods, who starred in Mahram’s hat-trick titles, last year, tormented his former team with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Point guard Omar Turk, starting a game for Riyadi for the first time this season, repaid his coach’s faith with 16 points – in a 4/5 three-pointer show.

American Chris Williams’ 22 points and a game-high 14 rebounds led Mahram’s scoring.

Marlon Garnett returned to the Mahram roster and scored 19 points, but 8 of them coming in the first quarter and none in the fourth.

Mahdi Kamrani had a game-high 7 assists and 4 steals to go with his 14 points. Mohammad Zareei and Babak Nejafat each had 10 points.

Mahram’s early flurry

Mahram started off on a confident note nudging ahead 14-11 in the first five minutes and closed the first quarter with a 9-0 run for a 28-17 lead.

Early into the second quarter, Marlon Garnett scored once both from the paint and the perimeter, while Mahdi Kamrani fired in two sizzling three-pointers to propel Mahram ahead by 16 points (38-22), which would prove to be their biggest lead.

‘Zoned’ in

Riyadi started to play zone – which traditionally has been Mahram’s Achilles’ Heel – at that juncture and that changed the complexion of the game.

Turk fired in two long rangers, Mohammad Ebrahim added another and Ali Kanaan – on loan from Antranik – scored twice in the lane to spark off a 15-0 run, which helped Riyadi overturn a 29-40 deficit to a 44-40 lead.

Garnett’s trey ended the drought for Mahram and Williams put them back ahead, but Woods was on hand with two back-to-back successes under the board to give Riyadi a 48-45 lead going into the changing rooms.

Riyadi never trailed after that and their defense held fort whenever Mahram attempted a rally.

“I think our offense was alright. We scored very well. Scoring 90 points should have been good enough for us to win. But defensively we allowed them too many easy shots,” rued Mahram coach Mehran Shahintab.

“We have to prepare really hard now,” Shahintab said of the next game at Beirut.

“Riyadi at home will a lot tougher than they were here. And like I’ve always said they (Riyadi) are a team of rhythm. Once we allow them to get into their rhythm, we can’t catch them. Which is what happened tonight and which is exactly what we hope to break in Beirut,” he said.

FIBA Asia