No slowing down as semis-bound Kuwait Club maul Al Nasr to end Gulf group stage
RIYADH (Saudi Arabia) - There's no such thing as non-bearing games for Kuwait Club as the semis-bound side trounced Al Nasr Riyadh to end the WASL-Gulf group stage emphatically.
RIYADH (Saudi Arabia) - Kuwait Club still went full throttle despite getting the job done already as they trounced Al Nasr Riyadh on the road, 101-70, to end the WASL-Gulf group stage unscathed, Tuesday night at the Green Basketball Court.
The very first to reach the Semi-Finals, Group B's best showed no signs of slowing down, opening the game with a fiery 21-2 start in what would be the story of the game as they went on to finish the preliminaries with a pristine 6-0 card.
Omran Jawhar bannered the spread-out attack with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field, on top of 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks.
Cody Lalanne finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds plus a pair of swats towards the STEP AHEAD Player of the Game citation as he got 33-percent of the fan vote.
Jacob Pullen almost had a triple-double with 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists. Turki Alshemmari had 15, while Hamad Hasan provided 12-8-8.
Brandon Austin, meanwhile, led Al Nasr with 24 points in the crushing loss. Marcus Thomas backed him up with 20 markers and 15 rebounds.
It sure was a tough defeat for the home team, but there's still enough reason to be upbeat as they managed to make it to the Final Phase.
The Saudi Arabian side needed Al Sadd to lose in their final game against Al Manama in order to catch the last bus, and their prayers were answered.
Group B's No. 2 seed at 4-2, the Bahraini squad eliminated their Qatari counterparts from contention by way of a 98-86 decision earlier in the night.
Lamont Jones set the pace for Al Manama with 25 points and 9 assists on the way to grabbing STEP Ahead Player of the Game honors (22-percent), while Mohammed Hamooda punched in a season-high 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting.
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The two took turns in powering the comeback from 12 down. Jones scored 10 in the second quarter to help trim the deficit to just three at the half, while Hamooda poured 11 in the third where they finally took control of the match, 78-70.
Al Manama scored a total of 64 points in the middle quarters, overwhelming an undermanned Al Sadd side that only played with six players.
Elijah Robinson supplied 19 points, and Ahmed Alderazi provided 14 as four of the five starters finished in double figures in the win.
FIBA