Jonathan Gibson, Sagesse show Al Naft the door in rebound win

GHAZIR (Lebanon) - Sagesse dashed the hopes of Al Naft, 89-82, to return to the win column in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL), Wednesday night at the Ghazir Club Stadium

Once again fueled by the ever-raucous home crowd, the Lebanese side dictated the pace early on and never let up since as they picked themselves up from that 81-68 loss to Shahrdary Gorgan last January 11 in Tehran that snapped their two-game win streak.

With the victory, the crew regained the no. 2 spot in Group A of the West Asia League, breaking a tie with Al-ittihad Ahli as they improved to 3-2 in the standings.

Game heroes: Jonathan Gibson proved that he could just be what the doctor ordered as he led Sagesse with 29 points on seven triples, on top of 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals.

Karim Ezzedine finished with a season-high 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and the same number of steals. Veteran Radhouane Slimane supplied 13 points and 7 rebounds.

STEP AHEAD Player of the Game: Gibson deservingly earned STEP AHEAD Player of the Game honors as he helped Sagesse take control of the game early, scoring 16 of his points in the first half. He shot 62.5 percent from the field and finished with an efficiency of 30.

Turning point: Sagesse jumped to a 24-13 lead early but it wasn't until the middle quarters where they established full control of the match. The lead rose to as high as 17 points, 52-35, following a three-pointer by Gibson early in the third quarter.

The hard-fighting opposition still tried to mount a comeback but another triple by Gibson with under six minutes left to play gave the home team the 84-69 lead. Al Naft could only play catch-up afterwards as they couldn't find the extra gear to actually take the driver's seat.

Group A

9/12 games played

		GAMES				STREAK	GAME POINTS					POINTS
#	Team	P	W	L	%	Last 5	For	Agt	+/-	FA	AA
1	Shahrdary Gorgan	4	4	0	100		388	271	117	97	67.8	8
2	C.S. Sagesse	5	3	2	60.0		402	399	3	80.4	79.8	8
3	Al-Ittihad Ahli	4	2	2	50.0		295	336	-41	73.8	84	6
4	Al Naft	5	0	5	0		353	432	-79	70.6	86.4	5

They said: "We knew how important this game was for us. We had to get the win [for a chance] to finish in the group as the second place. Now we have one more game against Syria. Every time we play at home, we know we have a full house." - Jad El Hajj, Head Coach, Sagesse

"We did a great first half, second half we have to work on our transition a little bit. But overall the team played hard .. we just gotta work on our communication and chemistry. But I think it's getting better day by day." - Jonathan Gibson, Sagesse

"It's not easy. You wanna do better than the season before but it's the game of basketball. There's always adversity, there's always injuries, and things you don't expect. You have to keep moving forward." - Antwaine Wiggins, Al Naft

FIBA