BEIRUT: With the WABA League ensuring that Champville, Riyadi and Mouttahed Tripoli are temporarily off the Lebanese Basketball League schedule, Saturday sees a chance for the mid-table teams to make up some ground on the league leaders.With the Final Eight just round the corner – and Antranik already decided as the team that will not make the cut – teams are beginning to settle and spend the next few fixtures getting their squads in the right shape.
While Champville and Riyadi are way out in front, the battle for the third and fourth spots is an increasingly tight affair with just four points separating third and eighth place.
Hoops Club, currently eighth, play Byblos who they will leapfrog in the standings should the Beirut side win at home Saturday.
Hoops will change Jonathan Hurd after the end of the regular season with a point guard while Damon Williams replaced Vernon Hamilton during this week. On top of the player upheaval, Hoops Club also replaced coach Patrick Saba with Syrian Omar Hassino.
After a strong start Hoops Club have fallen out of form, dropping to the last seed, but forward Hussein al-Khatib believes that the worst is over.
“I expect a win [Saturday],” Khatib told The Daily Star’s Sports Weekly. “We will be going there with full focus to get the win before the start of the Final Eight.
“The past few weeks were rough on us. We changed both of our foreigners, we changed the coach so it will need some time to adjust. And I think we paid the price against Bejjeh. We played a horrible match and I got a finger injury. I think we needed to refresh ourselves after few consecutive losses so we are ready now,” he said.
Byblos have putting in a surprisingly good season so far, but they are not without their problems ahead of Saturday’s games.
“Byblos are suffering as well,” said Khatib. “They have five injuries within their lineup so their situation isn’t better than us, but I also expect them to come to our court in a fighting spirit as they did against Anibal in the midweek. They are good fast-paced team.
“The league is still open to many options. There are five teams close to each other in standings so a win is a must to keep the distance close.”
Also Saturday, Sagesse take on third placed Bejjeh. The Jbeil side embarrassed Sagesse earlier in the season, but since then they have added to their ranks and came close to beating league leaders Champville and Riyadi in the last two weeks.
“We are getting better game after game,” Sagesse guard Miguel Martinez told The Daily Star’s Sports Weekly, “Everyone saw the way we played against Riyadi and Champville. Nate Johnson and Brandon Crump added power to our lineup whether from inside or outside.
“We lost the away game against Bejjeh because we played with two guards [Allan Wiggins and Vernon Taylor]. Their center Harold Jamison killed us from the inside. But everything has changed with Crump joining us,” he said.