Bahrain just shy of upset win over China

TDT | Manama                                                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain came one field goal short yesterday from securing Bahrain’s biggest-ever victory in international basketball. The senior men’s national team put on an inspiring performance in a heartbreaking 79-80 loss to heavily favoured China in their second Group B game of the preliminary round in the FIBA Asia Cup 2022, being held in Indonesia.

The Bahrainis stood toe-to-toe with their opponents, who—being ranked 29th on the FIBA World Rankings and with Bahrain being 106th—were expected to come away with an easy win. But the nationals made them sweat for the result and nearly pulled off a stunning decision that would have gone down in the history books of global basketball.

Naturalised big man Wayne Chism gave Bahrain a slim 79-78 lead with a minute and 45 seconds remaining in the contest with a lay-up off an assist by Maitham Jameel. They then did well to hold on to their advantage heading into the game’s closing moments, but the Chinese were able to avoid the upset with a late basket.

After Weize Jiang clanged off a three-pointer against Chism’s hounding defence, Quan Gu grabbed the offensive rebound and scored on a put-back while being fouled by Bahrain’s Mustafa Hussain with only 6.8 seconds to play. That gave China the one-point advantage but then Gu missed his ensuing free-throw.

After a timeout, the Bahrainis had one last chance to win the game on the other end of the floor. But after Ahmed Hassan Alderazi passed off to Chism beyond the arc, the star centre fumbled the ball as he was pressed by Zhelin Wang, and the nationals were unable to get off an attempt as the final buzzer went off.

It was a dramatic ending to an incredible contest that stole the spotlight on a busy day of action in the tournament. With the result, Bahrain suffered their second straight defeat in this opening stage of the competition and have one game to play in Group B against South Korea tomorrow. China secured their first victory after earlier losing to the Koreans.

South Korea beat Chinese-Taipei in yesterday’s other Group B fixture 87-73, and are now in first place on the division table. Chinese-Taipei and China follow, while Bahrain are last. The Bahrainis still have a slim chance of advancing past the preliminaries, but they must beat the undefeated Koreans tomorrow to have any shot of going through.

Bahrain had four players in double-figures in yesterday’s tough loss. Chism spearheaded their attack once again with 23 points and 14 rebounds, while Jameel had 16 points including a perfect four-for-four from the three-point line. Hussain added 15, Alderazi scored 12 with three triples, while Mohammed Ameer chipped in with seven points.

Gu had 22 for China while Jiang added 20. The Chinese led 29-18 at the end of the first period, but Bahrain battled back to within 41-45 heading into the half. They continued to stay close and trailed 61-66 after three, which set the stage for the tight finish.