MANILA – Strong Group Athletics-Pilipinas showed steadiness in the endgame to defeat Al Nasr of Saudi Arabia, 99-87, in the 34th Dubai International Basketball Championships on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila) in Dubai, UAE.
Clinging to a slim 77-72 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Chris McCullough connected a three-point play, an inside basket, and back-to-back three-pointers to widen SGA-Pilipinas’ lead to 88-72.
Al Nasr still tried to claw their way back, but conversions from DeMarcus Cousins, Mikey Williams, Dave Ildefonso, and McCullough extended the lead to 99-81 with over a minute left.
McCullough top-scored with 31 points, including three outside conversions, to go with nine rebounds, while Williams and Ildefonso added 16 and 13 markers, respectively, as the SGA-Pilipinas improved to a 2-0 record.
“We’re still in the process of familiarizing ourselves as a team, but we’ve been through this before and will become more cohesive as the tournament progresses,” said SGA-Pilipinas head coach Charles Tiu after the game.
Harat Mohammed led the way for Al Nasr with 34 points, Marvelle Harris contributed 30 markers, while Faizal Mohamad Ahmed ended with 13 markers in the defeat.
Meanwhile, Zamboanga Valientes failed to sustain their fiery start to suffer a 97-82 defeat to Al Sharjah SC of Dubai to open their campaign in the week-long tournament.
The Valientes surged to a 30-15 start in the opening quarter behind outside conversions from Prince Caperal and Adonis Thomas, but Al Sharjah slowly clawed their way back to take a 49-47 halftime advantage.
The Philippine representatives took the lead for the last time at 56-54 on two free throws by Sam Deguara, but the home team responded with a huge run to pull away for good.
Deguara finished with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Valientes, Chris Michael Tolomia added 14 markers, Padrigao and Thomas tallied 13 apiece, and Caperal ended with 11 points./PN
BOX SCORE:
SGA-PILIPINAS 99 – McCullough 31, Williams 16, Ildefonso 13, Brickman 9, Richardson 8, Cousins 8, Abando 7, Liwag 4, Kouame 2, Koon 1, Blatche 0, Ynot 0.
AL NASR 87 – Mohammed 34, Harris 30, Ahmed 13, Khalfa 4, Ba 4, Alblooshi 2, Petty 0.
Quarterscores: 21-17, 50-38, 73-61, 99-87.
Strong Group Athletics-Pilipinas’ Rhenz Abando soars for a two-handed dunk. PHOTO COURTESY OF STRONG GROUP ATHLETICS
