Lebanon secured a thrilling and well-deserved victory by 15 points over their counterpart from New Zealand 87-72, presenting a fantastic performance in the second round of the Group D competition at the Estor Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. In the Asian Basketball Cup, which was held in Indonesia, the Cedars came close to the top of the group and firmly secured a place in the quarterfinals before the next meeting with India.

Back in the game, both sides carried the scoreline to New Zealand by relative advantage before the Cedars side, led by Wael Arakcji, moved up in the second quarter to turn the table with a 3-point lead in Lebanon. score 39-36.

In the third quarter, Lebanon finished the brilliance and held back the New Zealand opponent’s attempts to keep the margin in their favor, 5, and in the last quarter, Lebanon’s stars, led by Hayek, scored three-pointers, so that the difference was 10 points in the middle of the quarter. In the last minutes, Lebanon managed to take their first a historic victory over New Zealand to send a strong signal to the competition with a score of 87-72.

The game’s top scorer was Wael Arakcji with 25 points, top jumper Jonathan Ridge with 9 rebounds, and Arakcji was the top passer with 7 assists.