Basketball team suffer defeat to Jordan

TDT | Manama          

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national basketball team suffered their second successive loss in the men’s basketball preliminary round at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Bahrainis bowed to Jordan 60-84 in their Group C affair. It followed their opening defeat to the Philippines on Tuesday. The nationals now need to win their final game of this stage against Thailand tomorrow at 12.30pm, Bahrain time, at Zhejiang University Zijingang Gymnasium.

The Thais succumbed to the Philippines 72-87 in yesterday’s other Group C game. Jordan and the Philippines face off in tomorrow’s other divisional fixture, scheduled for a similar tip-off time at a different venue.

In Bahrain’s loss yesterday, the nationals had a tough start, being held to just single digits in the first quarter and going down 8-28 heading into the second. They raised their efforts over the ensuing three periods, but could not make up the deficit, trailing by as many as 24 points the rest of the way.

Mustafa Hussain scored 16 points to lead the Bahrainis while Mohammed Ameer added 11 to go with nine rebounds. Maitham Jameel and Mohammed Buallay chipped in with eight markers apiece, while Ali Aqeel had six and Wayne Chism five points.

Rondae Jefferson paced the Jordanians with 17 points, while John Bohannon had 13. Both Jordan and the Philippines are unbeaten in Group C heading into their head-to-head. Bahrain must win their game against the Thais in order to secure a place in the next round.

There are 16 nations competing in men’s basketball at Hangzhou, divided into four groups for the preliminaries. After a single round-robin, the top teams in each group will qualify directly for the quarter-finals on Wednesday next week.

Meanwhile, the second and third-ranked sides will play each other in a play-off round on Monday for the right to determine the four other quarter-finalists. The semi-finals and fifth-to-eighth ranking games are then scheduled for Thursday; and then the gold and bronze medal games, plus the final classification contests, will be held on Saturday next week.