Visiting PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) team NLEX Road Warriors started their campaign at the 26th Dubai International Basketball Tournament with an easy win over Ittihad Libya at Al Ahli Club.

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Veteran centre Asi Taulava, despite being the oldest player on the court at 41, showed his ageless basketball prowess by leading everyone with his double-double performance, scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

He was followed by American import and former NBA player Al Thornton who finished with 20 points and seven boards, while shooting guard Mark Cardona and forward KG Canaleta added 13 and nine points respectively for NLEX.

NLEX had a jittery start but they tightened their defence in the second quarter and registered a nine-point lead, 44-35, at the half, which they increased to 11, 66-55, going into the final quarter.

Libya, backed by American import Deandre Rice who finished with 21 points, made a short rally at the start of the fourth quarter but NLEX remained unfazed and a triple by Cardona gave the Road Warriors their biggest lead at 16, 78-62, with only two minutes left in the game.

Although NLEX committed more turnovers, they dominated the rebounding department 42-35 and had more points in the paint 36-28. They also had better field goal percentage, making 32 of 64 attempts for a 50 percent average while Libya only had a 36 percent conversion.

“We’re happy we got this one,” NLEX Road Warriors coach Boyer Fernandez told Sport360. “We came here to train, improve our game and prepare ourselves for the second conference of the PBA which will start on January 27.”

“We’re looking forward to our other games which will help us in terms of making adjustments. Our main system is playing defence but we also got good offence from our import and local players led by Asi,” added Fernandez, who is hell bent on improving their 10th place finish in their maiden conference in the PBA.

Fernandez also credited the warm support extended by the huge Filipino expat community to the team for the win. "We will always give our 100 percent in every game to give a good show to ourkababayans (countrymen)." 

NLEX will next face Al Riyadi Lebanon on Sunday (7:00pm) then the UAE National Team on Monday (9:00pm) before they end the group stage round on Tuesday (9:00pm) against Zamalek Egypt.

In another Group A encounter, Al Riyadi Lebanon crushed  Zamalek Egypt 99-75. Six players scored in double digits for Al Riyadi, led by American import Jeremiah Massey with 23 points, followed by Jahmar Young with 15. Brian Cook and Miguel Martinez finished with 11 markers each while Ismail Ahmad and Amir Saoud had 10 apiece.

Elsewhere, Salé Club Morocco trounced And1 USA Selection 95-80. Soufiani Kourdou led all scorers with 33 points while Abdelhakim Zouita and Zakaria Elmeshabi added 23 and 18 markers respectively for the Moroccan side.