Muharraq, Hala triumphant in basketball league

TDT | Manama                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com 

Muharraq and Al Hala were both victorious last night in their respective week 12 contests in the 2022/2023 Zain Bahrain Basketball League.

Muharraq powered to a big lead early and never wavered in their 97-71 rout of Nuwaidrat, while Hala stretched their advantage late to claim an 83-73 win against Bahrain Club.

Both games were played at Zain Basketball Arena in Um Al Hassam.

In Muharraq’s win, they raced out to a commanding 30-12 cushion at the end of the first period and never looked back.

They led by as many as 27 points the rest of the way, en route to closing out the big 26-point triumph.

American professional Tony Mitchell was their top scorer with 23 points.

He also took down 12 rebounds and dished out six assists. Bader Abdulla Malabes added 17 and was red hot from beyond the arc with five three-pointers.

Hussain Salman added 14 with a perfect four-forfour on triples while Baqer Isa scored 12 off the bench.

For Nuwaidrat, Canadian Keanau Post had 18 points and 14 boards, while Hassan Abbas contributed 14 markers in the loss.

Muharraq came away with their seventh win in 11 games following the contest, while Nuwaidrat were handed their seventh loss.

In Hala’s victory, they closed the game out strong after a seesaw opening three quarters. Hala led 23-16 after the first but Bahrain Club closed the gap to 40-44 at the interval.

In the third, things remained close and Hala took a slim 58-55 advantage into the final canto.

There, they outscored their rivals 25-18 with a three-pointer by Ali Oun Rustam making it 79-71 with just over a minute remaining, virtually icing the game.

Tony Farmer led Hala with 36 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists while Ahmed Khalifa chipped in with 14.

For Bahrain Club, Xavier Gibson had 22 to go with 13 rebounds while Husain Safar added 16.

With the result, both teams are now tied on the league standings with identical 5-6 win-loss records.

League action continues on Friday with the first evening of week 13 games.

Manama begin West Asia Super League campaign

Bahrain league champions Manama Club open their campaign in the first-ever edition of the West Asia Super League (WASL) tonight when they take on Al Nasr Riyadh of Saudi Arabia.

The game is scheduled for an 8pm tip-off and it will be played at Green Basketball Court in Riyadh.

The WASL is a new basketball competition sanctioned by FIBA, the sport’s global governing body. Manama are one of 16 teams in the inaugural edition.

They are in Group B of the Gulf sub-zone alongside Al Sadd SC of Qatar, Kuwait SC of Kuwait, and Nasr.

The Bahrainis will be facing each of the three sides in homeand-away contests. Following tonight’s fixture, they then host Kuwait on 27 December.

Manama then go against Sadd away on 9 January before playing Nasr at home on 23 January.

They then close out their preliminary round campaign with two games in March, first against Kuwait away on the 13th and then against Sadd in the Kingdom on the 21st.