Al-Ahli Jeddah never gave up. Now they're fighting for a playoff spot

DOHA (Qatar) - Hollis Thompson II lauded how Al-Ahli Jeddah fought in the face of adversity on their way to registering their first win in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL), Tuesday.

The former NBA winger was proud of the resiliency he saw from the rest of the crew, as they battled back from a 19-point deficit and dealt Al Rayyan a stinging 89-84 win on the road.

"Just glad we pulled out the win," he offered during the postgame press conference at the Al Gharafa Sports Club Multi-Purpose Hall in the Qatari capital.

Thompson himself was among those who played a big role in the comeback by finishing with a game-high 27 points on an efficient 61.1-percent shooting from the field.

But more than his own outing, which saw him come through with crucial buckets down the stretch to help DeAndre Liggins close it out, it's the progress he saw from the crew that makes him proud.

The 32-year-old felt that Al-Ahli Jeddah have a tendency to just throw in the towel whenever it trails big, thus his satisfaction to have been proven otherwise on Tuesday night.

"I thought there have been games where teams got leads on us and we kinda gave up," he said, as the club lost its previous games against Muharraq and Kuwait Club by an average margin of 16.0 points. "But we continued to fight and pulled this win off. Very grateful. Proud of my team."

Fight they did and thanks to that no-quit mentality, the team that had appeared to go luckless after losing its first three games in Season 2 is now talking about the Final Phase.

With the win, Al-Ahli Jeddah have remained in contention for the next round. The team now totes a 1-3 card similar to Al Rayyan in Group A, and would need to sweep all their remaining fixtures in the Group Phase to further improve their chances of securing a playoff ticket.

It wouldn't be easy since they will be figuring in rematches against Muharraq on January 30 and Kuwait Club on February 12, but none from the team is backing down to the challenge.

"We have our chance, there are still two games," said lead assistant coach Soufiane Mouli as optimism and confidence have gone high within the team following the breakthrough.

"We have a game against Muharraq in Jeddah, and another in Kuwait. We have all our chances. We believe in our chances, and we believe that we are going to the second round, inshallah."

FIBA