STRONG Group Athletics turned back Amman United Club 84-75 to complete a sweep of Group A action in the 34th Dubai International Basketball Championships yesterday at the Al Nasr Club.
Mentored by Charles Tiu, the team got big numbers from American Malachi Richardson to post a 4-0 card heading into the quarterfinals.
Richardson scored 24 points on a 9-of-16 shooting with six three-pointers, a rebound and an assist, while former PBA reinforcement Chris McCullough had an all-around outing of 19 markers, eight boards, five dimes, three steals, and a block.
Rhenz Abando and Jason Brickman also made their presence felt, with the former scoring 12 points and the latter coming up with six points, eight rebounds, and eight assists.
Strong Group had a huge help from its bench, which combined for 37 points to Amman United’s 10. The team also had 20 fastbreak points.
Strong Group took a comfortable 17-point lead at 70-53 after a game-highlight dunk from Abando but Amman United slowly crawled its way back and threatened at 75-69 on a 16-3 run at the 3:58 mark.
But Richardson took charge as Strong Group took an 80-71 lead while Brickman iced the win with two free throws.
Fadi Mustafa paced the Jordanian squad with 20 points, Henry Ashbury Sims had a double-double outing of 15 markers and 13 rebounds, while Kevin Patrick Allen added 14 points.
Strong Group collides with Sharjah SC in the quarterfinals on Friday, 1 a.m. (Manila time).
Zamboanga Valientes absorbed a 36-point blowout defeat against the national team of Tunisia 95-59.
Valientes finished its Group B campaign winless in four games while Tunisia advanced to the quarterfinals.
Import Samuel Deguera paced the Zamboanga-based squad with a double-double performance of 16 points and 12 rebounds while locals Nic Cabanero and Prince Caperal finished with 14 and 13 markers, respectively.