DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - Shabab Al Ahli relied on Deshawndre Washington and Jeremiah Love to turn back Meralco, 101-87, and ace their first test in the BCL Asia 2025 on Saturday night.
The lanky wing lit up the scoreboard with 40 points alongside 7 rebounds and 6 assists, while one their newest signings came through with 22 as they took turns in leading the rally from an early 11-point deficit.
"I'm so proud of how we reacted in the second half," expressed head coach Miodrag Perisic in the victory that left the home fans that watched live at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall delighted.
"D-Wash led us, he was really, today, super involved playing defense and offense. I used 11 players in this game and everybody played their roles. I'm very happy," continued the champion bench tactician.
Washington himself already had 26 in the first half, 18 of which he manufactured in the opening frame alone although it was really in the second chapter where his contributions were of significance.
His team staring at a 54-43 deficit, the 24-year-old was brought back in and wasted no time making impact, leading a 10-2 run to chop the deficit to just three, 56-53, entering the halftime intermission.
That enabled Shabab Al Ahli to gain steam in the next chapter and that's when they finally took the lead for good, with D-Wash tying it up at 68-all before Qais Alshabebi helped out to make it a 77-72 lead.
The Bolts would struggle to regain momentum, and things would turn from bad to worse for the Philippine representative when Love hit a jumper and pushed their spread to 88-78 with 5:51 remaining.
Shabab Al Ahli's lead went on to grow to its highest at 15, 96-81, with less than four minutes left after Love, Omar Alameri, and Love strung together eight unanswered points, all but securing the win.
Alshabebi finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds, while budding star guard Hamed Lateef chipped in 13 points in the win that gave the defending FIBA WASL-Gulf League titlists the early lead in Group B (1-0).
And surely, they would prefer to sweep their way into the Quarter-Finals with another win against the 2024-25 B.League champions Utsunomiya Brex in the Group Phase's last day on Monday, June 9, at 18:00 local time.
Jordon Varnado and Glynn Watson, meanwhile, had 19 points apiece to lead Meralco in the defeat. Main man Chris Newsome had 15 points while John Egbunu notched a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bolts (0-1) will be the first to test the mettle of Brex on Sunday, June 8, also at 18:00 local time in a game that would make or break the reigning PBA Philippine Cup champions' hopes of reaching the Quarter-Finals.
FIBA