Copy in clipboard...
WASL West Asia League:
Shahrdari beat Astana to stay on perfect run
The Iranian outfit, a twice former WASL runners-up thus earned their second win from as many games and are now locked for the top place in the five-team round-robin with reigning three-time champions Al Riyadi Beirut. Jordan Hamilton led the charge for the Iranian champions for the second game on the trot with 25 points one rebound shy of a double-double.
Parrish Petty and Mobin Sheiki lent support with 14 points each.
Having endured oscillating fortunes in the first two periods of a hitherto even-keeled encounter, Shahrdari closed the first half strong.
Meisam Mirzaei nudged Gorgan ahead and Petty reeled in a long-ranger to swell that lead further as the teams headed into the break. Gorgan went into the locker-room with that lead and never fell back when they returned to action for the second half.
“We needed to tighten the screws a little in the second half,” said Gorgan coach Saleh Makhdoomi.
“We began to share the ball better and we were focussed to thank our fans who travelled long with this win,” he added. Mohammed Hassanzadeh pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for the home side, while Adas Juskevicius was the leader of Astana’s rally with 25 points.
Shahrdari will stay at home to welcome Syria’s Al Wahda on Thursday next.