MANAMA marched into the final of the inaugural FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) last night after dismantling a strong challenge from Kazakhstan’s BC Astana, 91-81, in the first FIBA WASL Final 8 semi-final at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall in Dubai.
They will face familiar foes Kuwait Club, the FIBA WASL-Gulf Region champions – who defeated Lebanon’s Al Riyadi, 95-85, in the second semi-final, also last night – in tonight’s winner-takes-all clash at the same venue.
Such a dominant victory looked improbable for Manama when their semi-final started with the Kazakh club galloping to a 20-13 lead with three minutes left in the first quarter.
But Manama clawed their way back into the contest, scoring nine points to Astana’s four to end the opening quarter just four points adrift at 22-26.
The Bahrain club then stepped on the accelerator in the second quarter, racing to a 40-35 lead after five minutes and, although their opponents managed to draw level at 40-40 a couple of minutes later, Manama walked off court at half-time with a slim one-point lead as the scoreboard read 45-44.
When the third quarter started, Astana, who had won all three of their Group B games and achieved the biggest coup of the overall FIBA WASL championship by ending Kuwait Club’s 12-game winning streak that had begun last December in their last group match, tried to up the ante.
They managed to edge into a 50-47 lead three minutes into play but Mustafa Husain (with a two-pointer) and Mohammed Ameer (with an excellent three-pointer) helped Manama sneak ahead, 52-51, in the fourth minute.
From then on, it was all Manama for the rest of the third quarter as the Bahraini club first sped to a 62-54 lead with two minutes to go before ending the period with a 12-point advantage at 70-58.
Five minutes into the fourth quarter, Manama were leading 80-67 and a large contingent of their travelling fans clapped and cheered loudly while a small group of Astana supporters in the stands looked decidedly downcast.
But they perked up when Roman Marchuk scored a three-point jump shot about 30 seconds later and teammate Markell Davon Johnson followed up with another three-point jump shot.
The scoreboard now showed Manama leading by just seven points, at 80-73, with three minutes left and Sir’Dominic Pointer made the Bahraini club’s fans cheer again with a two-point driving layup.
Then it was the Astana fans’ turn to scream loudly as Rustam Murzagaliyev made a three-point jump shot.
With slightly more than three minutes left in the game, Manama led 82-76 and some of their fans had begun to look nervous.
But, after nearly a minute with neither team able to score, the Manama contingent shouted with delight again as Travin Thibodeaux drew a foul and then calmly netted the resulting two free throws.
With about two minutes left, Manama led 84-76 and Pointer produced a perfect three-point jump shot to push their lead back up to 11 points at 87-76.
Shortly thereafter, Astana’s Karvel Markeese Anderson was awarded a free throw for a technical foul and, after he made the shot, another personal foul on him a few seconds later, resulted in two more free throws, which he also converted.
Manama’s lead had now been reduced to eight points, at 87-79, but a scoreless next 60 seconds for both teams meant that the Bahraini club’s supporters were looking increasingly more hopeful than their Kazakh counterparts.
With 55 seconds left, Thibodeaux made an alley oop, adding two more points to Manama’s tally and, although Astana’s Dimitriy Gavrilov scored a two-point hook shot, the Bahraini club had become favourites to win the game as they led 89-81 with only 43 seconds to go till the final buzzer.
And they eventually sauntered to what turned out to be a most impressive victory with Thibodeaux making one last layup with about 20 seconds left to show the scoreboard reading 91-81 before the buzzer sounded and the start of some ecstatic celebrations by the Manama players and their fans.
In tonight’s final, however, Manama will have to contend with Kuwait Club, who beat them twice in the group stage of the FIBA WASL-Gulf Region competition and then defeated them two more times in the best-of-three final series to lift that trophy.
On paper, and according to their head-to-head record in this championship, Kuwait Club would appear to have the advantage as the two teams go into the final and the culmination of long campaigns of more than six months.
But Manama, who have won a record 21 Zain Basketball League titles, have shown time and again that they are always a force to be reckoned with.
And, with the chance to nab an historic trophy treble – Manama won the domestic Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Cup last month and, leading 2-0, are one game away from a 22nd Zain Basketball League title when they resume battle with arch-rivals Muharraq in the third match of the best-of-five series next Thursday – Kuwait Club will underestimate them in tonight’s championship final at their own peril.
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