Mighty fights hard but loses to Al Riyadi; battles for bronze

Mighty Sports-Philippines falls to Al Riyadi Lebanon, 89-84, in a tightly contested game in a do-or-die semifinal matchup Friday night.

The Charles Tiu-led squad moves on to battle for third place of the 30th Dubai International Basketball Championship in a rematch against Homenetmen Lebanon tomorrow evening.

Al Riyadi snagged a piece out of Mighty’s playbook sinking 14 three-pointers to pace the entire game.

Mighty could not sink their shots for much of the game with Al Riyadi leading by as much as 23 points in the 8:00 marker of the third frame.

However, the Filipino squad was able to mount a comeback in the same quarter starting with an 8-0 run led by Jeremiah Gray who finished with 17 points.

The team was able to cut the lead to 9 points, 76-67, at the end of the third quarter.

They opened the fourth quarter with a 5-point burst by team captain Justin Brownlee to put pressure on the opponent.

The Lebanese remained unfazed even as Mighty pulled close within 4 points as they continued sinking cold-blooded threes to keep their lead and win one over the spotless Mighty Sports squad.

Wael Arakji led his team with 23 points and import Dominique Johnson added 6 triples to finish with 20 points.

Brownlee finished with 24 points and Randolph Morris added 21 of his own. Guards Juan Gomez de Liaño and Roosevelt Adams could not find their stroke finishing with a combined 12 points on 4-of-12 shots.

Mighty Sports is brought to you by team owners Alex and Caesar Wongchuking; backed by Healthcube, Go For Gold, SMDC and Oriental game.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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Photo by Herbert Iponla