Al Hala claim easy win

TDT | Manama                                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Al Hala routed Isa Town 90-68 last night to forge a three-way atop the standings in the 2023/2024 Zain Bahrain Basketball League. Hala were the heavy favourites in the contest and enjoyed leads as big as 33 points, while never trailing.

They went ahead 24-13 at the end of the first quarter and then a monster second period where they outscored their opponents 32-13 put them 56-26 in front at the half. They cruised in the final two periods en route to closing out their 22-point triumph.

American professional Alex Young was their top scorer with 21 points in just 23 minutes of work. He also took down 10 rebounds and dished out six assists while registering three steals. Alwatheq Ali added 17 and 12 boards while Hamad Jassim finished with 13 and Ahmed Khalifa had 11.

Jehad Ahmed scored 17 to pace Isa Town in the loss, while Hussain Mahdi contributed 16 and Sayed Mohsen Mahdi had 15. Hala claimed their sixth win in eight games with the result, improving to 14 points on the league table to forge a three-way tie with defending champions Manama and Al Ettihad.

Manama occupy first place and Ettihad second on superior points differentials. Isa Town suffered their eighth loss in as many outings and are one of just two teams still winless this season. In another game last night, Samaheej edged past a battling Bahrain Club 73-64.

It was a close contest between two sides in the bottom half of the standings and neither led by more than 10 points. After Bahrain Club took a 15-9 advantage after the first, Samaheej came alive with a 24-10 second period to head into the interval up 33-25. Bahrain Club cut the deficit to 42-45 after three, but in the final stanza Samaheej did just enough to come away with the result.

Salman Alkaabi virtually iced the game with a three-pointer that made it 69- 59 with under a minute to go. Alkaabi and Basel Adel combined for 37 points to spearhead Samaheej. Alkaabi had 19 to go with 11 boards while Adel finished with 18 and 10 rebounds, with Mohammed Abdulla Jaffar contributing 14 off the bench.

Hussain Lulu scored 14 and Sayed Mohammed Habib had 10 for Bahrain Club. Samaheej claimed only their third win in eight tries as they went to 11 points on the standings, while Bahrain Club suffered their sixth defeat and are on nine points in third-from-bottom position.

The eighth week of league action continues tonight with Manama taking on Nuwaidrat in the early fixture at 5.30pm, to be followed at 7.30pm by Al Najma going up against Sitra, the league’s only other side yet to taste a victory this season.