AL Ahli reignited their campaign last night beating Al Hala 89-67 to move to the top of the table in the Zain Bahrain Basketball League at the Zain Arena in Um-ul-Hassam.
It was Al Ahli’s sixth victory from seven matches and took their tally to 13, one more than overnight leaders Manama, the only unbeaten team in the league.
For Al Hala it was their third defeat in seven matches and they moved to third with 11 points, same as second-placed Muharraq, who have a match in hand.
Al Hala began on a positive note and wrapped up a close first quarter 21-19, but that joy was short-lived as Al Ahli bounced back in style in the second to go into half-time with a narrow but encouraging 43-36 lead.
Al Ahli sustained the pressure in the third and almost outplayed Al Hala to race to a 65-48 lead by the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was another close affair, but Al Ahli kept their noses ahead and eventually clinched the quarter 24-19 and the match by a handsome 22 points.
Mile Ilic top scored for the winners with 24 points (two three-pointers, 14 rebounds and five assists) and he was well supported by Hesham Sarhan, Maitham Jameel (15 each) and Ali Aqeel (13).
Andre Washington top scored for Al Hala with 21 points while Ahmed Al Motawa contributed 12 and Hussain Salman, Ahmed Khalifa and Ahmed Jamal 10 each.
In the first match of the day, Al Najma scored a fine 93-75 victory over Isa Town.
Al Najma’s third victory from six matches moved them to sixth place in the standings with nine points while Isa Town stayed rooted at the bottom with their sixth straight defeat.
Al Najma led all the way after making a fast start and cruising to a handsome 24-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.
But Isa Town did not let their opponents run away with the match as they put up a spirited performance in the second quarter, winning it 28-20 and narrowing the lead to a manageable 38-44 by half-time.
Heat
In the next two quarters, however, Al Najma turned on the heat and though they won the third narrowly 26-22 and the fourth 23-16, their dominant performance in the first quarter was enough to carrying them to a comfortable victory by 18 points.
Ali Jaber led the way for the winners with 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists, while Haminn Quantance was equally effective contributing 20 points, including three three-pointers, 22 rebounds and 10 assists.
Fadalallah Abbas (12) and Ali Jaffer (10) also got on to double figures.
For Isa Town, Mansoor Jaber top scored with 20 points, including four three-pointers while Mohammed Nabeel (16) and S Mohammed Habib (11) were the other main scorers.
Teams:
Al Najma: Ali Turabi, Haminn Quantance, Hussain Mohammed, Ali Jaber, Hassan Jaber, Fadalallah Abbas, Qassim Hassan, Ali Jaffar, Ahmed Abdulhasan, Abdulla Mohammed.
Isa Town: Mohammed Abdulqader, Sayed Qassim Alabbar, Hussain Mahdi, Abdulla Alromaihi, Abbas Haji, Sayed Mohsen Mahdi, Habib Sami, Mansoor Jaber, S Mohammed Habib, Mohammed Nabeel.
TODAY’S MATCHES:
6pm: Samaheej Club vs Riffa
7.45pm: Al Ettihad vs Nuwaidrat