JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) – He had all the excuse to sit out, but Sergio El Darwich simply didn’t want to.
The star guard chose to brave through a broken nose and fight in the trenches with his brothers-in-arms instead, and that sacrifice paid off as Lebanon turned their fortunes around in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025.
From losing twice in a row to end the Group Phase, the Cedars are marching on to the Quarter-Finals following a massive beatdown of Japan on Tuesday night, ensuring that their title hopes remain very much alive.
“We’ve been through ups and downs a lot in this tournament, especially me, myself,” he said after their 97-73 victory at the King Abdullah Sports City. “I got injured. I broke my nose. I’m playing through a broken nose.”
“But anything for my team, anything for my national team,” the 29-year-old added.
El Darwich got hurt mere seconds into their eventual defeat to reigning champs Australia last Wednesday never to return, although he managed to compete against Korea the following game albeit with a protective mask.
He actually had 13 points against their East Asian foes but all that went for naught as they got overpowered from deep early on, and could only make the gap respectable late before bowing to a 97-86 result.
Losing in back-to-back fashion inevitably caused skeptics to be all the more critical of the 2022 silver medalists’ chances in this tournament, but if anything, that loss to the Koreans served as a wake-up call of sorts.
Thus, the conscious effort on the part of El Darwich in helping set the tone early, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the opening frame that saw him nail back-to-back three-pointers to lead a 10-0 run for a 19-12 lead.
And that run was all they needed to seize control. The Japanese struggled to keep up as Team Lebanon began to pull away late in the second chapter before completely breaking the game wide open after the break.
“Thankfully today, we showed out, and we played our best basketball,” he said. “We knew Japan is a great, great team, and we had to limit their three-point shots, and stop their key players, and that’s what we did.”
El Darwich’s solid start highlighted as well how much of a difference was the guard play between the two teams, as the Lebanese received remarkable contributions from their other tried and tested backcourt pieces.
Karim Zeinoun, for one, finished with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. Amir Saoud had 12 points as well alongside 5 assists, while Ali Mansour dished out 15 of their 29 assists on top of his 5 points and 6 rebounds.
For the 2024-25 Lebanese D1 Men’s Basketball Championship MVP, all that was a by-product of their eagerness to turn it up a notch, most specifically on defense after allowing Korea to drop 22 shots from beyond the arc.
“I’m telling you, we were very focused. We came to the game, we knew the intensity we had to put on defense,” said El Darwich, who chalked up 5 steals – the most by any player in this year’s competition.
“Against Korea, they scored a lot of three points against us. We were very loose on defense. So thankfully, we were very serious about it, and very locked in and showed it on defense before offense,” he furthered.
El Darwich couldn’t have picked a more opportune time to perform, for he will find himself competing against some of the Japan players as he’s headed to the B.League next season after signing with the Sendai 89ers.
“I told him, Imma see them guys in Japan,” he said, as he shared a dap with opposing big man Josh Hawkinson, who’s playing for the Sun Rockers Shibuya, in the mixed zone shortly after the match.
“I’m happy we beat them,” he added, smiling, “and so now, I can go to Japan and maybe, do the same thing over there.”
But that, of course, is another story altogether as El Darwich remains focused on the task at hand, and that is gearing up for the Quarter-Finals where they will take on the 2022 bronze winners in New Zealand.
The two have fought seven times in FIBA play. But the Tall Blacks have the edge as they’ve won five times, the most recent of which was a 106-91 result during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers.
Nonetheless, the University of Maine product is more than ready for the challenge against their unbeaten opponents, who swept their way into the Quarter-Finals after going 3-0 in Group D.
“It’s a great opportunity again to show out in front of our fans,” he said.
“New Zealand is a great, great team. They’ve been unbeaten in this tournament. But we’re gonna play our basketball, bring our intensity, and hopefully we can get the win,” El Darwich added.
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