Al Riyadi inflicts fifth loss on Mighty Sports

DUBAI – Mighty Sports-Philippines missed nailing the elusive win against one of Lebanon’s premier clubs, blowing a four-point lead in overtime and absorbing a 95-100 setback to Al Riyadi in the Dubai International Basketball Championship at the Al Ahli Indoor Stadium Wednesday.

Chris Tiu, stepping up for the injured Kiefer Ravena, hit a triple early in the extra period, giving Mighty Sports a four-point cushion. But Al Riyadi, behind Serbian import Branco Cvetkovic’s hot-shooting, struck back to complete their victory and a sweep of the elims among seven teams.

With Ravena reduced to a virtual cheerleader after fracturing his shooting hand in the team’s 100-93 loss to Homennetmen last Tuesday, Tiu took charge and Mighty Sports managed to give Al Riyadi a tough challenge before losing steam in the end.

It was Mighty Sports’ fifth straight loss. It was playing against local side Ball Above All with Tiu and the rest of the team vowing to give it their all for the sake of the Filipino fans who continued to support them.

“We know it’s hard for them to see us losing games so we will do everything we can to make them happy tomorrow (today),” said Tiu, who finished with 11 points, including three pressure-packed charities with no time left to force overtime.

Lebanese stars Amir Saoud and Wael Arakji struggled but Cvetkovic almost single-handedly carried the team to victory, pouring in 13 of his team-high 23 points in the extra period.

Abdul Wahab Aminu and Mohamad Ali Haidar backed him up with 22 and 16 points, respectively.

The 6-foot-6 Cvetkovic knocked down his sixth triple to give Al Riyadi a 97-93 lead with 30 seconds left.

Backed by Rain or Shine and Scratch it, Mighty Sports had two chances to close in or perhaps win the game, but bungled both opportunities.