AL HALA registered a surprise 84-82 win over Manama in the Golden Square stage of the Basketball League at the Khalifa Sports City Hall in Isa Town.
The quarter results were 19-18 (Manama) 23-15 (Al Hala) 21-18 (Al Hala) 30-22 (Manama)
The game was the first of two matches to decide the team who will qualify for the final.
Al Hala started the game with a line-up consisting of Hussain Salman, Hasan Gerashi, Ahmed Jamal, Yasser Bunafoor and Loren Woods. Al Manama’s line-up consisted of Mohammed Hussain, Mohammed Kuwaied, Ahmed Aziz, Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Mohammed Qurban.
Manama were the first scoring side through Kuwaied but Al Hala took the lead quickly afterwards by a three-point shot from Gerashi.
Manama extended their lead to three through Hussain before going on in the quarter to lead by eight. Al Hala, however, fought back hard to end the quarter trailing by only one point.
Al Hala started the second quarter in strong fashion quickly taking the lead away from Manama to lead by seven points.
The third quarter saw the winners extend their lead to 10 points.
The real action was in the fourth quarter as Manama put in a fight to get back into the game. They got so close by closing the gap early into the quarter but their offensive approach helped Al Hala punish them by scoring from their weakest of chances.
Trail
The last four minutes saw Nawrooz score a three pointer to trail by four points. Kuwaied also scored a three-point shot to drop the margin to just one point with two minutes to play.
They managed to tie the score through Hussein who scored one from a two-free shots which he was awarded.
Al Hala’s Woods quickly gave his side a two-point lead with a magnificent dunk before adding in a free shot from a personal foul by Najaf.
The last seconds of the game saw Kuwaied miss two free throws as Al Hala went on to score a precious win.
Al Hala’s Jamal topped the scoring ranks for his side with 20 points while Manama’s Tskitishvili topscored for his team with 21 points.
Al Ahli will face Muharraq today at 7pm at the Khalifa Sports City Hall in their first game of the Golden Square stages.