- 10:15
Facing a tenacious Beirut Club, the Greens lost 87-88 in Ghazir. The series is now tied (2-2) and will be decided in a fifth and decisive game on Tuesday evening in Chiyah.
They believed until the very end... but the final breath turned in favor of the visitors. Sagesse's dreams vanished in the last three seconds. Cheered on by 3,600 furious fans in the Antoine Choueiri arena, La Sagesse led the dance for three quarters before collapsing at the finish line. Beirut Club, led by a clutch-performing Joe Young, snatched victory in Ghazir (88–87), tying the semifinal series at 2–2. The decisive game is set for Tuesday night at 9:45 PM. A fifth game that promises to be heated in the inferno of the Chiyah Arena.
A Breathless Finale
Linos Gavriel and his men were on the right track. After a convincing start to the game (19-16, 22-30, 15-19), the Greens saw Beirut come back in the final quarter with fury and precision (32-22). The money time turned to the advantage of Jad El-Hajj's men, carried by a solid team effort and renewed accuracy.
Doumbouya in Every Battle
Sekou Doumbouya, the Franco-Guinean from Sagesse, was once again monstrous: 20 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists. Omnipresent, powerful, aggressive, he gave his all. In vain. Behind him, Omar Jamaleddine (17 pts, 7 rbds) and Jihad El-Khatib (14 pts, 6 rbds) stepped up, as did American Stefan Moody (10 pts, 6 assists). But success was not on the cards from behind the arc (5/27 from 3-point range).
Opposite them, Beirut played well: 26 assists, 10 successful 3-point shots, and surgical management in crunch time. Joe Young (23 points, 6 assists), Thomas Wimbush (18 points, 7 rebounds), Sergio El Darwich (16 points, 8 assists), and Ali Haidar (14 points, 8 rebounds) broke down a tired and exhausted Sagesse at the end of the game.
Towards an Electric Fifth Game
With this hard-fought victory, Beirut Club regains home-court advantage. On Tuesday evening, in its Chiyah arena, the Beirut club will have the chance to clinch the series in front of its home crowd. The fifth game promises to be explosive between two teams that know each other inside out, respect each other... and definitely don't want to go home.
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