Mighty Sports absorbs 3rd loss
Games Today (Al Ahli Indoor Stadium) 5 p.m. – Al Riyade vs Ball Above All 7 p.m. – Egypt vs Sagese 9 p.m. – Homenetmen vs Mighty Sports
DUBAI — Mighty Sports-Philippines finally made its outside shots but found no answer to American Terrell Stoglin’s explosive performance and suffered a 95-92 loss to Sagesse of Lebanon Sunday in the Dubai International Basketball Championship at the Dubai Indoor Stadium here.
For the second straight night, Mighty Sports had a chance to turn the game in its favor but beefy center Beau Belga’s potential game-tying trey fell short at the buzzer.
The loss was the third straight in as many games for Mighty Sports, putting its semis bid in peril.
The team backed by Rain or Shine and Scratch It takes a break Monday with the coaching staff headed by Charles Tiu hoping to find out what went wrong with the team as they go up against the tournament’s title favorites Homenetmen (Tuesday) and Al Riyade (Wednesday).
Led by the prodigious Kiefer Ravena and former Ginebra import Justin Brownlee, Mighty Sports buried 14 triples but its defense proved not hard enough as Stoglin shattered it time and again with his vast repertoire of shots.
The 6-foot Stoglin was not only quick, he was also deadly from afar as he finished with a tournament-high 46 points marked by nine triples, six in the first half, that saw them take a 46-41 lead.
Like in its 84-82 defeat to Egypt national team Saturday, Mighty Sports rallied furiously to regain the lead 7871 on Chris Tiu’s second triple for the night early in the payoff period.
But Stoglin highlighted a bristling 11-2 attack with his 9th trey to put Sagesse back on top, 82-80, and regain the momentum by attacking Mighty Sports’ defense with every chance they had to frustrate the PH club.
Stoglin’s swashbuckling show – he even tapped Ryan Arana’s back after hitting a quick trey – negated Ravena’s 25-point effort. He highlighted his performance with 10 straight points bridging the first and second quarters.
Stoglin 46, Todd 18, Efebra 17, Bou 8, Ammoury 3, Godfrey 2, Ibrahim 1, Ghottas 0, Beyrouthy 0. Brownlee 27, Ravena 25, McGuire 10, Douthit 7, Tiu 6, David 6, Belga 5, Teng 4, Miller 0, Thabeet 0. Quarters: 16-21, 46-41, 69-74, 95-92.