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| Jordan Heading dropped five triples to lead Strong Group to a sweep of the group stages. UAE Basketball Association |
QUEZON CITY--Strong Group Athletics escaped a late run from Al-Ahli Tripoli to score a 91-89 win in their final elimination round game in the Dubai International Basketball Championship early Thursday (Philippine Time) at the Al-Nasr Sports Club.
Strong Group prevailed despite Al-Ahli Tripoli almost pulling off a comeback in the last two minutes of the game.
Strong Group threatened to pull away after going on an 11-1 run within three minutes to take an 89-82 advantage.
Al-Ahli Tripoli, though, did not give up as Mohamed Sadi scored on a tough layup and Nick West followed it up with back-to-back inside baskets to cut Strong Group's lead to one, 89-88, with 30 seconds remaining.
However, Naseim Badrush, who was stellar in the game, committed a huge defensive lapse as he fouled Jordan Heading with 20.4 seconds remaining.
Heading made both his free throws to up the lead back to three, 91-88.
Al-Ahli Tripoli had a chance to force overtime, but Badrush and Walter Hodge misfired on their three-point attempts even as Wajdi Dawo was smothered by the Strong Group defense before Heading fouled him with 0.9 seconds left.
Dawo, though, missed his first free throw, and as a sign of concession, he made the second charity, letting Strong Group take the win.
Heading led Strong Group, which completed a 5-0 sweep of Group B, with 19 points on five triples and five assists.
Kevin Quiambao and Dwight Howard each added 17 markers as Strong Group assured itself of the top seed in their group ahead of the quarterfinals on Friday.
Badrush finished with 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting including 4-of-7 on threes, two rebounds, and two assists, while Sadi added 22 points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block for Al-Ahli Tripoli, which lost for the first time in the DIBC after a 4-0 start, dropping them to the second seed.
Strong Group, Al-Ahli Tripoli await QF opponents
Both teams will have to wait for the outcome of the Thursday games to determine their quarterfinal opponents.
Al-Ahly Benghazi, Al-Nasr, and Sale are chasing for the last two quarterfinal spots for Group A, although Al-Ahly Benghazi and Al-Nasr could also end up tied with Tunisia for the second to fourth places.
Tunisia earned its place in the quarterfinals after beating Sale in overtime, 77-73, on Wednesday.
Oussama Marnaoui led Tunisia, which still needed five more minutes to depose Sale despite holding them to just eight points in the first quarter, with 25 points, six rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
Khaled Buqisho put up 20 points, five rebounds, and two assists for Sale, which can only hope that Al-Nasr falls down to Al-Riyadi to qualify for the playoffs.
Box Scores:
Strong Group 91-Heading 19, Quiambao 17, Howard 17, Roberson 13, Blatche 10, Moore 7, Baltazar 3, Liwag 3, Escandor 2, Ynot 0
Al-Ahli Tripoli 89-Badrush 27, Sadi 22, Hodge 17, West 10, Wesley 6, Dawo 5, Ramadan 2, Abdrahim 0, Sedek 0
Quarterscores: 20-27, 51-50, 74-73, 91-89
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