BEIRUT: Champville’s fairytale season continued Sunday as the league leaders picked up their 14th straight win, swatting aside Sagesse 100-87 in Dik al-Mehdi.At the other end of the table, Byblos ensured that Antranik’s season was almost the total reverse of Champville’s. Antranik were thumped 109-72 in their 13th defeat of the season and yet another pitiful performance.

In Dik al-Mehdi, as expected Khatib was Champville’s main man although on this occasion the box score didn’t tell the whole story.

Khatib finished with a double-double of 13 points and 14 assists to go with six rebounds while Garnett Thompson scored a game high 33 points. As impressive as Thompson was, it was Khatib who set up the bulk of his chances using his power and smarts to get close to the basket and passing off to Thompson or kicking out to Champville’s 3-point shooters.

Sagesse were good value for most of the game but it was simply the presence of Khatib that swung the game in Champville’s favor. Several times Sagesse would get the score to within one or two possessions before Khatib put on his game face and carried his team through.

Most impressively at the end of the first half Khatib grabbed three points and two assists in a minute, all of which showcased the range of skills that have made him the most revered Lebanese player of his generation.

Sagesse were guilty of being too rigid in their game plan, playing zone defense for too long, allowing Champville to rush them on the baseline constantly throughout the game as well as crash two big men into the paint to gain a crucial number advantage.

A ludicrous display of defending in the first quarter allowed Riyadi to pick up an easy 86-61 win over Final Four contenders Mouttahed Tripoli in Tripoli Saturday.

Only a good performance by young small forward Samir Meshref prevented Mouttahed Tripoli from a complete humiliation in their defeat to the Lebanese and Asian champions.

While Riyadi only scored 25 points in the first quarter – a relatively few amount of points considering its frequent ability to put up between 35 and 40 points in the opening 10 minutes – they conceded a barely believable 4 points in the entire first quarter.

A combination of rugged defense – including five blocks from Joe Vogel – slow play and poor shooting contributed to Mouttahed Tripoli’s first quarter output which is the lowest a team has scored in a single quarter so far this season.

Dewarick Spencer was again Riyadi’s main marksman draining four 3-pointers on route to an efficient 22 point total while Jean Abdul-Nour contributed a doube-double of 13 point and 12 rebounds.

Riyadi were only unable to pull off a complete blowout win thanks to coach Fouad About Chakra’s decision to play his starters for only two quarters of the game, with the coach almost certainly having one eye on next week’s WABA League fixtures.