Al Basri, Gibson lead Bahrain Club in rout over Samaheej

TDT | Manama                                           

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com  

Bahrain Club routed an overmatched Samaheej 94-56 last night to get week 19 underway in the 2022/2023 Zain Bahrain Basketball League.

Led by the red-hot nine three-pointers of Ebrahim Al Basri and the triple-double of American Xavier Gibson, the victors were a class above their rivals in the contest. They used a dominant second quarter where they outscored their opponents 33-17 to turn a slim 19-16 advantage at the end of the first period to a commanding 52-33 lead at the half.

They continued to pile on the pressure after the interval and enjoyed leads as big as their 38-point final winning margin. Al Basri, Gibson and Ali Abbas combined for a majority of their team’s output, finishing with 74 points between them.

Al Basri came off the bench to top score with 29, including his whopping barrage from long distance of nine triples from 15 attempts. Gibson chipped in with an impressive line of 26 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, while Abbas had an efficient 19 points that included five three-pointers.

For Samaheej, who were playing without a professional, Basel Adel had 14 markers to pace his team while Salah Naser added 12 and Mohammed Abdulla Jaffar had 11. With the result, Bahrain Club improved to a 9-9 win-loss record to stay in the top half of the league standings while Samaheej suffered their 15th loss to go with just two wins to remain second-from-bottom.

League action continues tonight with a mammoth clash between bitter rivals Manama and Muharraq. That game is scheduled for a 7.30pm tip-off, while at 5.30pm Al Hala take on last-placed Isa Town. Tomorrow, Al Ettihad played Nuwaidrat at 7.30pm.