MUHARRAQ and Riffa barged into the Golden Square semi-finals of the 2018/2019 Zain Bahrain Basketball League last night after sweeping their respective play-off series.
Muharraq convincingly ousted Al Ettihad 94-77 in the second game of their best-of-three match-up to book their seat in the round of four; while Riffa outclassed Al Najma 87-70 to clinch their play-off and march through.
Both victors had previously won the first game of their series. Muharraq now battle fellow-title contenders Al Ahli in one Golden Square semi-final clash, while Riffa go up against defending national champions Manama in the other. Both will also be played in best-of-three format, with the winners of each moving on to meet in the best-of-five championship series.
The Golden Square will be played right after the completion of the Khalifa bin Salman Cup, which is scheduled to tip off on Monday next week with the opening night of preliminary round fixtures.
In Muharraq’s win yesterday, they went ahead early and never allowed their rivals to get back into the contest.
They turned a 26-21 advantage in the opening quarter to 49-37 at the break. It was a close third period but Muharraq managed to maintain a healthy lead going into the fourth, where they finished off their rivals strong. They led by as many as 21 multiple times in the last canto.
Bader Abdulla Malabes had a game-high 26 points to spearhead a balanced Muharraq attack. He was red hot from the perimeter, connecting on six three-pointers while shooting an efficient 10-for-14 from the field.
Point guard Ahmed Hassan Aldurazi had 18 points and an impressive 12 assists in the game, while elder brother Mohammed scored 15. American professional CJ Giles put in a massive effort of 14 points and 27 rebounds. Ali Abbas and Mohammed Juma’a rounded out their scorers, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Seven-foot Serbian giant Mile Ilic had 24 points, 14 rebounds and five assists to pace Ettihad in a losing effort. Sayed Mohammed Hameed added 21.
Meanwhile, Riffa went in for the kill against Najma after previously dominating their first meeting in this play-off round.
After leading 15-11 at the end of the first and then 36-33 at half-time, Riffa blew things wide open after outscoring their opponents by 11 in the third period and building a comfortable 62-48 cushion heading into the final canto.
They did enough to close things out from there, leading by as many as 19 points on the way to the final whistle.
All five starters finished in double figures for Riffa, who played without American professional Shawne Williams. Superstar forward Mohammed Kuwayed paced their squad with 17. He nearly had a triple-double after also finishing with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Abdulrahman Ghali and Subah Hussain had fine double-doubles. Ghali scored 14 points and took down 12 rebounds, while Hussain had 13 and 10. Ali Jassim chipped in with 12 points, all from beyond the three-point arc; while Younes Kuwayed added 11 markers and four steals.
Ali Jaber led Najma with 26 points, including five three-pointers from 14 attempts. US import Kevin Rogers was held to just 12 points but he had a monster 25 rebounds and seven assists in 40 minutes of work.