Mighty Sports had little trouble winning its first game in the 30th Dubai International Basketball Championship on Friday night (Saturday morning, Manila time).

Playing in front of a crowd dominated by "kababayans", the Filipino club routed American University in Dubai 87-58, giving two-time NBA champion Lamar Odom a victory in his first competitive game in a long while.

Barangay Ginebra mainstay reinforcement Justin Brownlee led the visitors in scoring with 17 points.

Odom finished with four points and a few positive intangibles in a game that saw coach Charles Tiu manage his minutes. The former Los Angeles Laker hadn't played professional-level basketball since a stint for a Spanish club some 5 years ago.

With little time to get acclimated to a different time zone and settle in after an almost 9-hour flight, Mighty Sports showed a little rust to start the game at Shabab Al Ahli Club.

But led by Brownlee, Tiu and co. separated themselves from the home team late in the first quarter, extending a 9-5 lead to a double-digit advantage.

In that 14-4 late first-quarter rally, Brownlee accounted for 2 3-pointers.

Energized by that run and having found a rhythm, Mighty Sports opened the game up in the second.

Tiu fielded in Odom and Brownlee together to start the quarter and that combination worked wonders.

Playing point-forward, a position he was accustomed to in his NBA heyday, Odom featured in a pair of plays that got the crowd roaring — two outlet passes that led to a Jason Brickman layup first and a Brownlee two-handed throwdown next.

Odom's pitch to Brownlee was effortless as it was exhilarating — a one-handed, cross-court assist which an open Brownlee received for the dunk.

In the ensuing play for Mighty Sports, Brownlee drilled a 3-pointer from way behind the center arc to put his squad up by 20 points for the first time, 37-17, 3:33 to go before halftime.

After that sequence, Tiu called Odom, 39, back to the bench.

The lead breached the 30-point mark when US-born Filipino player Jeremiah Gray hit a layup to put Mighty Sports up 51-20 early in the third quarter.

Odom returned to the court less than 5 minutes to go in the third with the game all but decided.

Mighty Sports will be up against a more formidable opponent in its next assignment, when the team takes on the United Arab Emirates national team Saturday night.

Tipoff is at 11 p.m., Manila time.

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