SABA Battery marches towards consecutive title

Riyadi entered the game undefeated and hoped to stretch their spotless run. But SABA Battery put on a strong performance to steal a narrow win at the dying minutes. Riyadi suffered a major setback early in the encounter as their captain Ahmed Ismail got injured and struggled to return to action in the latter stages. The injury was later rumored to be a season-ending one for Ahmad. Riyadi looked a bit bewildered by the absence of the key player and SABA Battery used to their advantage.

The Iranian side ran away to a 42:39 lead at halftime. The spark for Lebanese team came in the third stanza as Fadi El Khatib scored a couple of impressive baskets and Omar Turk provided back up as Al Riyadi spurred ahead to an 8-point distance. SABA Battery trimmed the gap to 3 points heading into the fourth period 51:54. But three back-to-back trebles from Battery put the Iranian squad back on top early in the fourth quarter. SABA Battery kept it cool throughout the fourth frame and entered the crunch time in front. They had a 3-point advantage with seconds left in regulation whenFadi El Khatib was put to charity stripe. He nailed his first attempt and then purposely missed the second one, while Ali Fakhreddine pulled down a rebound for a chance to force overtime. But his attempt went off target sealing the win for SABA Battery. SABA Battery will now face Qatari Al Rayyan in the Final today.