Muharraq steamroll Samaheej

TDT | Manama                                                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Muharraq flexed their muscles against Samaheej in a 93-52 victory last night in the 2023/2024 Zain Bahrain Basketball League.

Muharraq led from start to finish and claimed an all-important victory that kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the Top Six round.

Tyler Wilkerson scored 24 points to spearhead the victors in the game, which was part of the league’s 10th week of action at Zain Basketball Arena in Um Al Hassam.

Muharraq opened mightily and went ahead 26-18 at the end of the first quarter.

They stretched their advantage to 44- 28 at the half and continued to dominate their opponents in the third.

Despite already virtually sealing the victory, Muharraq didn’t let up in the final stanza and closed the game strong, holding an overmatched Samaheej, who were playing without a foreign professional, to just 10 points in those last 10 minutes.

Muharraq’s final winning margin of 41 was also their biggest lead of the contest. Wilkerson also took down 12 rebounds to go along with his game-high scoring output.

Ali Jaffar chipped in with 15 off the bench. Rashad Deane had 12, while Bader Abdulla Malabes and Hussain Salman finished with 10 points apiee.

Salman Alkaabi was Samaheej’s top performer with 16 markers, while Ahmed Fateel added 12 in the losing effort as their only other player in double figures.

With the result, Muharraq ended their recent woes and claimed their fifth win in nine games, while Samaheej suffered their sixth loss to go with three wins.

In another league fixture, Al Hala made easy work of Bahrain Club 99-54.

Hala burst out of the gate and quickly took a commanding 39-9 at the end of the first quarter.

They maintained their fine form the entire game, again holding Bahrain Club to just single digits in the third, en route to leading by as many as 55 points.

Abdulqader Thani had 28 points to lead Hala, who had all 12 of their players make it onto the score sheet.

Alex Young added 13, while Hussain Jan, Alwatheq Ali, Ahmed Khalifa, and Hamad Jassim all finished with eight points apiece.

Hala claimed their seventh win in nine games and improved to 16 points, tying defending champions Manama atop the standings.

Manama have a superior points differential, earning them first place.

Bahrain Club suffered their seventh loss and went to 10 points.

The 10th week of league action wraps up tonight. Manama go up against Al Najma in the evening’s lone fixture at 7.30pm.