‘It will be a raucous crowd’: Manama’s Jones

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Manama Club’s star guard Lamont Jones is looking forward to potentially closing out their Gulf zone semi-final series against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in front of their home crowd next week in the 2022/2023 FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL).

The reigning Bahrain league champions battled back from a double-digit deficit to overcome their rivals 82-78 in overtime in game one at Green Basketball Court in Riyadh Monday night.

Game two is scheduled for next Monday in the Kingdom, and Jones is excited about having the home support as Manama aim to secure their place in the Gulf finals.

“We will have our home crowd behind us, we will be home, our families will be there, and hopefully we can pull it out at home and we don’t have to come back to Saudi,” the American said after their series-opening win.

“I always like our chances with our guys but [Hilal] are a very tough team. We just got to come out and play hard and try to play better than we did tonight.

“Our fans will be there fullfledged. It will be a full house. It will be a raucous crowd.

I look forward to it.” Of Manama’s win in the first game where teammate Ahmed Salman buried a corner three-pointer with nine seconds left in regulation to send the contest into the extra session, Jones said: “Super proud.

I think we just keep showing resiliency, we keep showing togetherness.

“We got down early, and I don’t think we got the lead until the fourth quarter. They came back and took the lead.

But we just showed some heart. “We got back in the game, we never quit, and we played together. That’s the name of the game.

Game three, if needed, will be back in Saudi on May 1.

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

Along with the Gulf sub-zone, there is a West Asia sub-zone.

The top three teams from the WASL Gulf and WASL West Asia sub-zones qualify for the WASL Final 8, where they will be joined by champions of South Asia and Central Asia.

The WASL Final 8 will qualify for FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2023, on the road to FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2023, FIBA’s highest club competition.