Manama outclass understrength Al Ahli

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Manama outclassed an understrength Al Ahli 107-67 last night to end the preliminary round of the 2020/2021 Zain Bahrain Basketball League with an unbeaten record in 11 games.

Ahli fielded a team made up of second-stringers, most of whom are junior team players, and Manama took full advantage.

After beginning the contest with their regular starting five, Manama cleared their bench to give more playing time to their reserves, and they delivered against their overmatched rivals. They outscored Ahli 32-7 in the second quarter to take a commanding 58-32 advantage at the half, and they cruised the rest of the way. Manama enjoyed leads as big as 41 points as they powered on to the final buzzer.

Ali Hussain led the victors with an impressive triple-double, including 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists as he came off the bench. Ahmed Najaf added 20 and Sadiq Shukralla scored 11 while taking down 16 rebounds.

Mohammed Jassim chipped in with 14, and Lebanese professional Karim Ezzeddine had 10 points in just 10 minutes.

Manama’s substitutes scored a whopping 84 of their team’s output. For Ahli, Ali Baqer finished with a game-high 23 in the defeat.

Mohsin Ali scored 15 while Nawaf Nabeel added 12 and 12 rebounds.

With the result, Manama’s unblemished 11-0 record earned them the number one seed heading into the Golden Square semi-finals.

Joining them in the final four are second seeds Muharraq, third seeds Ahli and fourth seeds Al Najma.

Ahli ended their league campaign with an 8-3 win-loss record following last night’s result.

In the final four, Manama takes on Najma while Muharraq and Ahli face-off, both in best-of-three series.

The schedule of matches in the Golden Square has yet to be released by the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA). Prior to those semi-final contests, action in the BBA Cup is scheduled to resume from today. Two fixtures are on the cards, starting with Riffa taking on Najma at 5.30 pm followed by Muharraq playing Nuwaidrat at 7.45 pm. Both games are in the fourth round of the competition.

In the BBA Cup, teams are not allowed to field their national team players and will have one professional on each side.