RIFFA coach Dejan Tomic blamed his team’s inability to covert three-pointers as the singular reason for last night’s defeat to Manama in the final of the Bahrain Basketball Association Cup, reports Vijay Mruthyunjaya.
“First of all, I want to congratulate Manama. They deserve this victory. They controlled the game most of the time,” said Tomic, who took over Riffa in July following a two-year stint with Al Ettihad.
“We let them score a lot of easy points, particularly in the second-half. Despite that, we were competitive but we failed to change the momentum in our favour. The key was our very bad percentage of three-point shooting. We scored only two out of 21 attempts (10 per cent).
“It’s tough to lose, but also I want to congratulate my players for their fighting and competitive spirit. We fought, we put a lot of effort and energy but tonight it wasn’t our good day,” concluded the 60-year-old Serbian who has a proven record in the Gulf and Europe, both as a player and coach.
“It was a very good game and both teams did a good job,” said Manama manager Kazerooni.
“This victory proves that our team’s youth players have a great future. Congrats Manama and hard luck Riffa.”