Hala edge past Ettihad in basketball league

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Al Hala edged past Al Ettihad 88-83 last night in their week one game of the 2023/2024 Zain Bahrain Basketball League.

American professional Alex Young made a couple of key baskets down the stretch to help Hala maintain their lead as Ettihad made a late charge.

Young first scored on a driving lay-up with a minute-and-a-half to go to put Hala up 83-80, and after Ettihad’s Sayed Kadhem Majid split two free-throws, Young scored once again with just 29 seconds to play to virtually ice the game.

Young finished with a gamehigh 37 points and also took down 13 rebounds.

Countryman Tyrone Nash chipped in with an impressive 24 points and 20 rebounds for Hala, but they were their team’s only two players in double figures.

Ryle Owens paced Ettihad with 23 points while Ronald Delph chipped in with 21 markers and 17 boards to go with four blocks.

Meanwhile, in yesterday’s other game, Al Najma romped to a lopsided 88-62 victory over Bahrain Club.

After leading 16-15 at the end of the first quarter, Najma began to run away from their opponents with a 20-11 second period.

They never looked back, enjoying leads as big as 28 points the rest of the way.

Elijah Robinson was on fire for Najma with 40 points, including five three-pointers, while also taking down 10 rebounds and registering four steals.

Sayed Mohammed Hameed had 15 for Najma, while Joshua Caldwell chipped in with 11.

Tavarion Nix was Bahrain Club’s leading scorer with 17, while Mahmood Abbas added 11 in the loss.

The league’s first week of action wraps up tonight with another two games on schedule at Zain Basketball Arena in Um Al Hassam.

At 5.30pm, Al Ahli face off with Nuwaidrat and then at 7.30pm, defending back-toback champions Manama take on Samaheej.