TEHRAN - Tabiat Basketball hung on to beat Sagesse, 88-87, for a successful debut in the 2024/2025 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL), Tuesday night at the Nouhad Nawfal Stadium.

Stedmon Lemon broke the 86-all deadlock to give themselves the lead for good with 33.7 seconds left to play and some stroke of luck afterward would enable the reigning Iran Basketball League champions to come away with the narrow win, joining Amman United Club as the first winners of the West Asia League contest.

The crew will now turn their focus on Wednesday's match against Al Difaa Al Jawi, who are coming off a 96-87 defeat to Amman United Club earlier in the evening in a battle between league newcomers.

Game heroes: Ivan Buva showed the way with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists, delivering solidly in the endgame that saw him engage in a shootout with Zach Lofton as both squads went back and forth.

Lemon produced 21 points and 6 rebound. Sina Vahedi - who finds himself back in the league after starring for Gorgan last season - delivered 11 points and 7 assists, while Rasoul Mozafari chipped in 10 markers.

Turning point: Mozafari himself was responsible for pushing Tabiat ahead, nailing a three-pointer first before following it up with a deuce to give themselves the 86-81 advantage with 2:12 remaining.

But Sagesse, of course, refused to quit, with Jad Khalil and Omar Jamaleddine joining hands to tie the game at 86-all with 1:18 to go - much to the delight of the Green Castle faithful that trooped to the venue, fiba.basketball reported.

Lemon, though, broke the tie with a layup to give the crew the lead for good, and it helped them a great deal that Shabazz Muhammad failed to tie it up again as he only split his foul shots with 28 ticks left.

Sagesse appeared to have gotten a big break when they forced a 5-second inbound violation on Lemon, but couldn't maximize the possession they got back as Omar Jamaleddine missed his potential game-winning trey.