Lebanese Basketball Championship - Men Division One - Regular Season 2005/06

Score: Q1: 16-24 / Q2: 35-50 (19-26)
          Q3: 59-63 (24-13) / Q4: 83-83 (24-20) / OT: 94-87 (11-4)

Starters:      Elie Mechantaf - Fady Khatib - Alvin Sims - Paul Khoury - Jerod Ward
Substitutes:  Bassem Balaa - Joe Ghattas

In a very tough game, Sagesse was able to clinch victory over Champville although suffering the absence of key playmaker Kenny Satterfield who had left the team to flee to his home country without prior notice. 

Comparing to the latest performances, Sagesse struggled on Defense as well on offense especially in the 1st half. Satterfield’s replacement import Alvin Sims –who arrived to Lebanon less than 24 hours before the game- showed a great talent and promise in his first ever game with Sagesse.
The game outcome depended much on each team’s benefit from the foul troubles of the other. Despite losing the effort of two key players in the 4th quarter, Sagesse had the strongest will and endurance edge, sealing the game in a thrilling overtime.

.Fady El Khatib was double teamed most of the game, Ward had not much of a contribution in the first half; however he played the major role in the victory in the 2nd half and in the overtime. Paul Khoury was the defensive rock, contributing as well on the offense, and he gave hard time to Champville huge center Lorenzo Hall. Sims showed good potential in his first game with Sagesse, and Ghattas was the key player who kicked Ford off his system.

On the other hand, Champville was a wild rival, and if their players could hold on the level they started the game with, the result may have been different. Brian Bchara from the arc and Devon Ford from inside were the offense key players, while Lorenzo was the key in the defense along with the collective team defense Champville had displayed in the first three quarters.

A thrilling and appealing duel beautified this game when the coaches were trying to beat each other’s tactics. Through each Time out or end of a quarter, both coaches tried to figure out the other’s plans and system, and dress accordingly a counter plan. As a result of which, we can say that the “Dragon” Dragan had the upper hand in this battle as he walked out victorious.

The game started slow from both teams, defensively Sagesse seemed to miss the system we lately witnessed, and Champville controlled the court in playing great defense, successfully denying Kahtib and giving hard time for Sagesse to apply the system planned. The absence of Kenny Satterfield was obvious, and Fady was filling the gap by playing in the PG position. 
In this quarter, Devon Ford was easily penetrating under Sagesse basket, while Brian had no problems from the arc. On the other hand, Sagesse players were scoring rather from individual efforts than from team collective action; they couldn’t apply any particular system Dragan tried to implement which left them trailing at the end of this quarter by 8 points (24-16), without scoring not one single three-pointer.

The second quarter was a bit similar to the first, with Champville double teaming the ball handler and achieving a 6-0 run in the 1st minute. Dragan quickly asked for a time out to reorganize his team and boost up the inconsistent offense with zero assist so far! After the time out, Balaa made the first assist in the game, yet the defense was still weak especially on the transition part. George Chibani took the PG job, freeing Fady on the wings: 5-0 run for Sagesse gave the fans, a little bit of hope to go back to the game, but still Champville were able to maintain the difference. Ghassan Sarkis pushed Sabah Khoury in to solve the mismatch issue with Sagesse’s Chibani. This quarter ended with 15 points difference to Champville (50-35), leaving Dragan facing a hard task to figure out what to do during the halftime break in order to win this game.

Both teams entered the 3rd quarter very determined, Champville to seal the game early enough to rest assured, and Sagesse to succeed the expected come back and take hold of the game. Joe Ghattas was guarding Ford, and a quick 7-0 run to Sagesse forced Sarkis to call for a timeout. Sagesse continued on pressuring Champville key players, and in no time Brian Bechara was getting his 4th personal foul. Ward suddenly woke up and hammered Champville’s basket from outside and inside, although he got his 4th personal foul later in this quarter. Consequently Sarkis changed many times his defense strategy, yet this didn’t affect Sagesse players and coach Dragan’s will to fight fiercely for closing the gap at any cost. 2 minutes before the quarter’s end, Sagesse was only trailing by 3 points. Unfortunately some hasty turnovers ended the quarter by 4 points lead to Champville (63-59), but credits should be given here to the amazing defense system applied by the Greens and preventing Champville from scoring but 13 points in this quarter.

4th quarter main issue was foul trouble, with each team trying to benefit from his opponent’s trouble. Sagesse tied the score for the 1st time 90 seconds into the 4th quarter 65-65. Devon Ford was still out of his team’s system thanks to the great defensive pressure Ghattas was putting him under. Then things went rather wrong when Paul Khoury fouled out 5 minutes before the final buzzer, followed by Ghattas a bit later. The score resumed head-to head till the last 30 seconds when the score tied 83-83 and Ward made a turnover: Sarkis called for a time out, Champville had ball possession, then Ford made an offensive foul on Balaa in the last 6 seconds. Another time out this time called by Raca, after which Fady got the ball but failed to score, pushing the game into the overtime. 

The overtime started with both teams heavily yielding under foul trouble pressure: Sagesse had already two players out plus Ward and Sims with four fouls each, while Champville on the other hand worried about Lorenzo and Brian’s four fouls and Ford’s three. 1 minute into the overtime, Balaa opened fire with a 3 pointer. Sagesse has been very successful in denying most of Champville players. Lorenzo wasn’t even able to benefit from some defensive gaps under the basket because of the collective defense Sagesse players were applying and denying him to even reach the ball. It took 3 minutes to Champville to score their 1st overtime point from Lorenzo’s free throw attempt. Champville sunsequently simply gave up asw the overtime went by, especially after Ford fouling out. No defensive system was able to stop Sagesse forwards now and the thrilling and exhausting game ended with Sagesse victory 87-94.

-Game statistics chart courtesy of Al-Balad newspaper - Sports Section ©-Al-Balad-2005 - All Rights reserved: