MANILA, Philippines -- The Zamboanga Valientes fell to their third straight loss in the 34th Dubai International Basketball Championship after getting blown out by Sagesse SC, 90-65, in a wire-to-wire fashion early Wednesday morning (Manila time).
Shabazz Muhammad exploded for 32 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field to go with eight rebounds. Ahmad Ali Ibrahim and Gerard Hadidan backstopped with 11 apiece.
Sagesse started the game waxing hot, unleashing eight straight points to kick off the contest.
The run was finally snapped by back-to-back finishes by Kyt Jimenez and Adonis Thomas, 8-4, before another 14-0 run by the Lebanon-based squad broke the game wide open, 22-4.
The Philippine-based squad could not close the gap to within single digits as the suffocating defense of Sagesse was too much to handle.
Zamboanga was able to slice a 25-point third quarter deficit to just 10, 48-58, after three free throws by Prince Caperal.
But a 9-2 haymaker to finish the quarter capped by a late 3-pointer by Zach Lofton pushed the lead back to 17, 67-50, heading into the fourth.
The lead grew to as much as 28, 86-58, after a triple by Aziz Abdel Massih to secure their second victory in three contests.
Malcolm Thomas added nine points and four rebounds for the winning team, while Omar Youssef Jamal-Aldin had eight points.
Adonis Thomas and Caperal led the Valientes with 18 points apiece. Sam Deguara had his season-low of just nine points but had 10 rebounds. Nic Cabanero added eight markers.
Zamboanga was able to just shoot 21-of-63 from the field, good for 33%. They were also forced to commit 19 turnovers.
On the flipside, Sagesse shot 33-of-74 from the floor, including nine triples.
The Valientes’ final elimination round game will be against Tunisia NT on Wednesday evening.