Manama beat Al Hala, return to top of basketball league

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Defending champions Manama returned to the top of the standings of the 2022/2023 Zain Bahrain Basketball League following a resounding 89-78 victory over Al Hala last night in their week 18 contest played at Zain Basketball Arena in Um Al Hassam.

Manama raced out to a 27-16 lead at the end of the first quarter and stretched their advantage to 55-36 at the half.

Hala were able to cut the deficit to just 61-71 at the end of the third period, but Manama opened the final canto by scoring the first 11 points to widen the gap once again en route to the final buzzer.

Manama’s biggest lead in the contest was 23. American professional Elijah Robinson top scored for the winners with 34 points, while Ahmed Salman added 28, including an impressive five three-pointers.

Mohammed Ameer finished with 11 and nine rebounds.

For Hala, Tony Farmer from the US had 22, 18 rebounds and eight assists but also seven turnovers, while Alwatheq Ali added 20 markers and 11 boards, along with five blocks.

With the result, which wrapped up the 18th week, Manama claimed their 14th win in 16 outings and went back to first place on the league table.

Hala suffered their eighth loss and stayed in the bottom half of the standings.