Devon Dwayne Chism and Mustafa Husain combined to lead Bahrain to a much-needed 76-62 win over Thailand in their last Group C game yesterday which propelled their side into a playoff for the quarter-finals of the basketball competition in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Languishing last in the four-team table with two points as they headed into this game, Bahrain knew they needed to produce a superlative performance to oust Thailand (who also had two points but were ahead of the Bahrainis on cumulative points difference) from their third spot in the group rankings to give themselves a chance of reaching the quarter-finals.
According to the 16-team tournament’s format, the winners of each of the four groups qualify directly for the quarter-finals with the second- and third-placed teams heading into playoffs to determine the other four quarter-finalists.
Jordan, who won all three of their Group C games to top the table with six points, thus went straight into the quarter-finals leaving the Philippines, who finished second with five points after two wins and their loss against Jordan, and Bahrain, who ended up third with four points, to battle it out for quarter-final slots in their respective playoffs against Qatar and South Korea tomorrow.
But Bahrain’s progress to the playoff would not have been possible without Chism suddenly finding form after seeming off-colour in his side’s comprehensive defeats to the Philippines (89-61) and Jordan (84-60) in their first two games.
The 6’9” American-Bahraini power forward was in his element yesterday, scoring 25 points to go along with 15 rebounds and three assists.
Mustafa Husain, who, along with his brother Ali, plays as a guard and was a key figure in guiding Bahrain to a five-game clean sweep in the 2024 Fiba Men’s Pre-Qualifying Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Asia in Syria last month, backed Chism up ably with 19 points, one rebound and four assists.
With everything to play for, Bahrain started strongly, racing to a 17-12 lead by the end of the first quarter.
But Thailand came roaring back in the second, netting 22 points to Bahrain’s 14, to lead 34-31 at half-time.
Bahrain seemed to be in danger of surrendering their initial initiative, just as they had done in the two defeats earlier when their erratic performance had seen them outscore their opponents in one quarter before allowing their adversaries to easily win the other three.
This time, though, the kingdom’s men regrouped during the break – helped no doubt by a pep talk from head coach Ricard Casas – and stormed back into the lead by the end of the third quarter, scoring 20 points to Thailand’s 14, with the scoreboard reading 51-48 in their favour as the game entered its final 10 minutes.
It was make-or-break time now for Bahrain and the players understood the assignment.
Chism, with a three-point jump shot; Mustafa Husain with a two-pointer; Ali Aqeel with a three-point jump shot; Chism, again, this time with a two-pointer and Mustafa Husain, again, this time with a three-point jump shot, pushed their team’s lead to 13 points, at 64-51, with five minutes left on the clock and Thailand had begun to look a little deflated.
And, five minutes later, it was all over with the Bahrain players enthusiastically celebrating their new lease of life in the tournament.
But another difficult challenge beckons tomorrow in the form of South Korea, who finished second in Group D with two wins and a loss.
Should Bahrain triumph in that encounter, they will head into a quarter-final clash with China, who topped Group B with three straight wins, on Tuesday.
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