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New coach Dragan Raca had the opportunity to assess and test
his players in his 1st official game in the Leg 2 opener
against Tripoli's Muttahed on their own Safadi home Court.
Focused and fast since the starting whistle, Sagesse players
had no serious problem overcoming their opponent and leading
the game from start to finish
In a court full of Muttahid fans, Sagesse was facing a problem in the position
1 when Chibani was slightly injured, with Kenny suffering
from a jet lag following his late arrival tonight at 7:00
P.M.
The game started with a slight domination on the rebound for
the favor of Sagesse. 2nd quarter started while both teams
depended on their centers to defend under the basket, with
zone defense applied by both most of this quarter.
Kenny and Khatib favored long range shooting, and the same
worked for Batts from Al Muttahid. Some easy chances were
missed by the Khatib-Kenny duo for the sake of showtime. In
the last minutes of this quarter, Muttahid switched to Zone
2/3 which made it rather hard for the Greens to score,
allowing Muttahid to narrow the gap to 43-36 at halftime.
The 3rd quarter title was the score run: 10-2 run for
Sagesse at its beginning put the team back on track. Sagesse
players were able to score easy shots from the paint,
forcing Muttahid to call for a time out. The game resumed
with a 6-0 run for Muttahid after they managed sorting their
offence.
Following some hasty turn overs done by his players, coach
Racca called an urgent time out. Things worked fine and the
3rd quarter ended 70-48 for Sagesse.
The last quarter was a procedure matter; both teams were
content with the game outcome. Khatib made a superb dunk
after a nice assist from the Captain, while Kenny was
scoring from everywhere and ended the game with a 40 points
game high.
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