DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - Al Ula Club wasted no time introducing themselves by way of a 108-74 romping of Sharjah SC for a remarkable FIBA WASL debut, Tuesday night at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.
Wael Arakji took the spotlight with 35 points, 23 of which he produced in the game's first 20 minutes as he led their massive second-quarter surge that put the Saudi Basketball League outfit ahead the rest of the way.
The reigning WASL MVP had 12 in the said chapter alone, joining hands with Thon Maker, Jonathan Gibson, and Mo Alsuwailem for an eye-popping 18-0 scoring spree toward a 46-28 advantage with 3:22 on the clock.
And when the home team managed to threaten by inching within six late in the third, the lefty playmaker was there to help in restoring order by doubling up the gap once more at 68-56 before the period ended.
The others would chip in afterwards to break the game wide open for good, with Maker, Abdulaziz Alalawi, and Gibson knocking down a triple each successively for an 81-64 lead with 7:19 left in the game.
"The third quarter wasn't the best, honestly. But we picked it up later, and we were able to finish the game by a big margin," offered Arakji, who also had 7 rebounds and 6 assists in the 38 minutes and 22 seconds he played.
"Every player knew his role, every player did his role a hundred percent. We did a great job collectively," he added.
Gibson top-scored for Al Ula with a game-high 38 points behind a 10-of-17 clip from beyond the arc alongside 6 rebounds in the victory that enabled the squad to gain the head start in Group B of the WASL-Gulf League.
Alsuwailem finished with a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds for a solid comeback after being part of the Al Hilal team that pioneered the pan-regional competition. Maker added 13 and 11 plus 2 blocks.
"With this kind of victory for a team that's participating for the first time in WASL, I think it's very important," said head coach Stratos Koukoulekidis. "Everybody feels proud because it's the first time that we're playing here."
"Also, we had a very good game. We need to continue. Never shall we stop after one good game," he added. "Al Ula has [big] ambitions for this season but we need to take it step by step, and we'll see what happens."
Al Ula will look to recover and prepare in the next two weeks before facing Kuwait Club on October 28 in Kuwait City in an early test for the crew, as they will be taking on the former two-time WASL-Gulf League titlists.
Glenn Robinson III, on the other hand, led Sharjah with 24 points and 8 rebounds in the defeat. DeMarco Dickerson provided 17 points and 13 rebounds as the two reinforcements played all 40 minutes.
Kavell Bigby-Williams supplied 16 points and 11 rebounds for the 2024-25 UAE League Basketball champions, who actually finished the first quarter with a narrow 26-23 lead until Arakji & Co. turned things around.
"It's just a learning lesson," said Dickerson. "Never a loss, just a learning lesson for our guys to be introduced to WASL. This was our welcome to WASL. I'm definitely proud of our guys. We came in here and we fought."
"Like Coach said, it's our first time. So, we're still trying to figure out how to approach the game, how to scout, how to do certain things. That just comes with time. But everything else, I'm very proud of our guys," he added.
Sharjah will try to rebound when they take on Al Arabi SC on November 4 at home again.
FIBA