KUWAIT (FIBA Asia Champions Cup) - Defending champions Saba Battery overcame a doughty defense posted by hosts Al Qadsia to record a 92-60 win in their opening Group ‘B’ game in the 19th FIBA Asia Champions Cup here on Thursday.

Supported by a partisan crowd, albeit a handful, Qadsia posed some serious questions and upset their more fancied rivals time and again, but against the time-tested Iranian combination Qadsia fought a losing battle.

Of course, Qadsia began the game as the underdogs, but seemed determined to shrug off that tag. American James Williams rallied the resources in defense rather gallantly, as Abdullal Al Sarraf provided enthusiastic support. But the focus on defense seemed to have upset their scoring rhythm, providing the inch of a loophole Saba were looking for.

Not that Saba were below par. Mahdi Kamrani was at his skillful best controlling the play and Nigerian Enyinn Muonike moved in tandem as the MVP of the game Hamed Ehadadi stood tall, literally too, inside the paint. Thus, although tested rather tightly, Saba held their own and cruised through.

Mounike topped the scoring with 16 points, but Ehadadi, one of the more attractive players in this part of the world these days, provided a feast of all around basketball. The 217-cm center, the lynchpin of Iran’s triumph at the FIBA Asia championships last year, accounted for 10 rebounds – six of them in offense – three steals besides assisting five times. All those apart from the 16 points he scored.

“I think the experience of our players stood us in good stead. Otherwise it could have gone,” Saba coach Mehran Shahintab put it modestly. “I think we will get into our complete rhythm only after the arrival of our second import.”

“We knew we had no chance. So it was a great learning experience for our boys,” said Qadsia coach Mindaugas Lukosius. “There are two ways of approaching games against big teams. One is to go with a defeatist attitude and the other is to look for things that you could learn. We chose the latter,” the Lithuanian said.

“This experience should help us fare better in the rest of the tournament.”

Scores
Saba Battery, Iran 92 (Enniyin Mounike 21, Samad Nikkah 17, Hamed Ehadadi 16) bt Al Qadsia, Kuwait 60 (James Williams 17). Quarterwise: 22-6, 48-26, 75-47.

S Mageshwaran
FIBA Asia