MANAMA will square off against tough opponents BC Astana, from Kazakhstan, tonight in the first semi-final of the FIBA WASL Final 8 series at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall in Dubai.
The Bahraini club bounced back from a disappointing opening match last week, in which they suffered a heavy 112-84 defeat at the hands of Lebanese powerhouse Al Riyadi, to crush another Lebanese side, Beirut Club, 86-75, in their second and final Group A game on Wednesday night.
But Manama will have to be at their absolute best tonight to contend with BC Astana, who won all three of their Group B matches and became the first team in the WASL – which started last December – to defeat Kuwait Club, whose unbeaten run in the championship was ended by that 85-72 loss.
Manama will have been encouraged by the performances of their key players in the game against Beirut Club, with overseas professionals Travin Thibodeaux (15 points, six rebounds and two assists), Sir’Dominic Pointer (14 points, eight rebounds and two assists) and Jeremy Deshawn Evans (10 points, seven rebounds and an assist) all making healthy contributions.
Local players Mustafa Husain (16 points, three rebounds and five assists), Mohammed Ameer (12 points and three rebounds), Ahmed Haji (eight points, two rebounds and an assist) and Hasan Nowrooz (seven points, one rebound and three assists) backed them up perfectly.
BC Astana, meanwhile, will be looking to guard Karvel Markeese Anderson (24 points and a rebound) and centre Dmitriy Gavrilov (19 points, five rebounds and an assist) for a repeat of their excellent outing against Kuwait Club.
Point guard Markell Davon Johnson was also on song with 10 points, two rebounds and seven assists while power forward Martin Krampelj pitched in with 11 points, five rebounds and an assist.
Manama, the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL)-Gulf Region runners-up, came to the tournament on a high, following their title triumph over Muharraq in the domestic Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Cup a fortnight ago and look poised to win the coveted league-and-cup double after having gone 2-0 up, also against Muharraq, in the best-of five Zain Basketball League final series.
They will want to make the most of a chance to go for a historic treble if they manage to make it to tomorrow’s final and win the inaugural FIBA WASL trophy and then return to action in the kingdom from next Thursday where they will need to win just one of the remaining three Zain Basketball League final series games against Muharraq to clinch that title for a record 22nd time.
Manama will have strong support in tonight’s game, as indeed they have had throughout the tournament, in the form of a large contingent of their travelling fans.
The match will start at 6pm, Bahrain time.
The second semi-final, between Al Riyadi and Kuwait Club, will begin at 8.45pm, Bahrain time.
The third game of the best-of-five Zain Basketball League final series will take place at the Khalifa Sports City Arena on June 22.