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

Starters:      Elie Mechantaf - Fady Khatib - Kenny Satterfield - Paul Khoury - Jerod Ward
Substitutes:  Bassem Balaa - Joe Ghattas - George Chibani - Robert Boudagher

A custom-made collective defence by Sagesse masterminded by shrewd tactician Dragan Raca and a terrific offensive performance by Fadi Khatib were more than enough to put an end to a 9-match losing streak against Sporting. The win came in emphatic fashion as the Greens dominated their perplexed opponents and showed no signs of nerves en route to a historic win in Manara, Sporting’s first loss in the championship in a little less than two years.

Satterfield, Mechantaf, Khatib, Ward and Khoury formed the starting fivesome supposed to tackle Sporting but with only two minutes consumed, Sagesse had already amassed 3 turnovers and conceded 3 shots from behind-the-arc to trail 0-9. Raca’s swift reaction included the introduction of Ghattas to replace Mechantaf with directives aimed at extinguishing Madison’s effect on the game by applying a strict box-and-one defensive pattern. In general though, Sagesse were still erratic, accumulating numerous turnovers and allowing too many offensive rebounds. The first quarter’s turning point occurred when Ismail Ahmad’s stand-in Dusan Stevic committed his second foul as he was clearly outpaced by Jerod Ward, thus forcing Sporting’s Abou Chakra to extract him, and with Toni Madison increasingly besieged by Ghattas, Sagesse slowly closed the gap and ended a boiling first quarter 4 points adrift of Sporting (18-22).

The second quarter got underway with Sagesse applying the same defensive system and in order to reduce any foul trouble risk, Raca kept interchanging the players in charge of guarding Madison, as the American player saw Ghattas, Khatib and Satterfield preventing him any breathing space during the whole game. The second quarter’s highlight was yet again Stevic’s inability to match Ward as he committed his third foul early on. Understandably, Abou Chacra pulled him out for the second forced extraction of the evening and Sagesse quickly took advantage of the situation with an 8-0 scoring run to lead 30-27. The Yellows, overwhelmed by Sagesse’s superb defensive blockade, lost their rhythm, gave away possession on many occasions and lost the edge in rebounding. Abou Chacra’s switch to zone defence made no sensible results as the Greens headed to the interval in command (40-31).

Both teams had a quasi equal input in the third quarter thus cancelling each other. Sporting’s zone defence was a glorious opportunity for Sagesse to display some well-coached offensive patterns as they forced the Yellows to stretch the area they were supposed to cover defensively. Raca’s plot made wonders since gaps were easily found withing Sporting’s lines and Abou Chakra, whose zone defence was totally disintegrated, returned to man-to-man. Nonetheless, there was no stopping to Sagesse’s thirst for success and the third quarter ended with the Greens in the driver’s seat 57-49.

Sporting got increasingly frustrated and disheartened because of their inability to close the gap. Any attempt to return in contention was promptly countered by the ever-efficient Greens and notably Fadi Khatib. The player nicknamed “tiger” struck while the iron was hot and turned on the style with fabulous baskets. Adding insult to injury, Abou Chakra unjustly objected a refereeing decision earning himself two technical fouls as Sagesse kept ballooning the difference until it reached its climax at 21 points. Henceforth, it was a matter of running out the clock and the game ended 83-67.

As the saying goes: “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” However, Sagesse should not rest on their laurels in spite of the resounding win but knowing Raca’s mentality, complacency is highly unlikely. Meanwhile, fans and players alike have the right to savour a memorable evening.

-Some stats:
Fadi Khatib: 37 points 5 rebounds 1 steal 3 assists
Jerod Ward: 17 points 9 rebounds 3 steals 1 assist 1 blockshot
Paul Khoury: 7 points 10 rebounds 1 steal 1 blockshot
Kenny Satterfield: 17 points 11 rebounds 2 steals 8 assists 1 blockshot
Bassem Balaa: 3 points 6 rebounds 1 steal 3 assists
Joe Ghattas: 3 rebounds
Robert Boudagher: 2 points