MANILA – Mighty Sports-Philippines fell short of its comeback bid as it suffer an 84-89 loss to Al Riyadi-Lebanon in the 30th Dubai International Basketball Championship on Saturday at the Shabab Al Ahli Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Randolph Morris, Justin Brownlee, Jeremiah Gray, and Roosevelt Adams tried their best to carry the Philippine squad after being down by as much as 20 points but was not enough to overcome the hot shooting Lebanese.
The Lebanese team was already on fire since in the opening quarter but the Mighty Sports was able to keep in step behind Brownlee and Morris to come to within 20-26 at the end of period.
In the second frame, Al Riyadi took advantage of Mighty Sports’ defensive miscues as it padded the lead to as high as 20 points on outside hits but the Philippine side made a run to come to within 40-54 at the half.
Al Riyadi, however, become rejuvenated after the break as it quickly increase the lead back to 19 points but Brownlee came alive offensively for the Mighty Sports to come to within 70-76.
After the Lebanese increase the lead back to nine in the final frame, Mighty Sports made its last push and was able to come to within 84-89 on four free throws from Morris but a missed layup from Brownlee in the final seconds doomed Philippines’ chances.
With the defeat, the Charles Tiu-mentored Mighty Sports will have to settle for battle for third place match on Sunday against the Lebanon’s Homenetmen, which was beaten by Beirut in the other semifinals game./PN
