Bahrain suffered an 86-97 defeat to Tunisia last night in the 26th Arab Men’s Basketball Championship, currently being hosted by the kingdom.
The senior men’s basketball national team battled hard for four quarters but the Tunisians were able to pull away late in the game, handing the Bahrainis their second straight loss at Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town.
Jawhar Jawadi buried back-to-back three-pointers with three minutes remaining to give visitors a commanding 89-79 lead and virtually ice the win. Tunisia claimed their second straight victory with the result after opening the competition with a loss against fellow-African giants Algeria.
In attendance yesterday were Bahrain Olympic Committee vice-president Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) president Alaa Mudara, and other BBA and Arab Basketball Confederation officials.
In other games, defending champions Egypt and the Algerians both claimed big victories. The Egyptians were comfortable 96-65 winners over Kuwait while Algeria outclassed the UAE 99-61. With those outcomes, both Egypt and Algeria remained undefeated after two games.
Today is a rest day in the tournament. Action is scheduled to resume tomorrow, when Bahrain face Egypt in the main fixture at 8pm. In the day’s opening clash at 4pm, Algeria play Qatar, to be followed at 6pm by Tunisia going up against the UAE.
Following their head-to-head with the Egyptians, the Bahrainis take to the hardwood for their last two games against the Algerians and Kuwaitis on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
In their loss last night, the nationals fell behind 76-83 midway through the final quarter but a Mustafa Hussain free-throw and a JaKarr Sampson dunk got them to within four. That set the stage, however, for Jawadi’s back-breaking triples, giving Tunisia a double-digit advantage. Bahrain never recovered.
Earlier in the contest, 16-year-old Hassan Abdulkadir got the starting nod from head coach Georgios Vovoras to try and match the Tunisians’ size advantage, and he showed some grit with his youthful hustle.
The Bahrainis got off to a hot start led by the incredible sharp-shooting of Hussain. He had three triples in the opening period alone and then a basket from Sampson in transition made it 19-9. But the Tunisians closed the period strong and went on a 17-4 run to head into the second up 26-23.
There, Bahrain responded well and regained a slim advantage at 34-33 on a Sampson slam dunk in transition. The nationals continued to stay narrowly in front and an emphatic Abdulkadir put-back dunk with both hands later made it 39-38. But Tunisia’s Omar Abada had a triple to get his team back ahead, and they took a 48-45 edge into the break.
Tunisia led by as many as eight points in the third quarter but the Bahrainis continued to battle. An Ali Jaber basket capped an 8-0 run to tie it at 57-all, but Adaba kept the Tunisians in control, scoring at will and giving them a 69-62 lead. The Bahrainis cut the deficit before the end of the period behind Sampson’s strong play. He had successive and-ones – although missed his bous free-throws both times – to make it 69-72 heading into the final frame.
Hussain and Sampson were once again the top scorers for the Bahrainis, combining for 47 points. Hussain had 24 while Sampson scored 23. Ahmed Salman added nine markers while Chism and Abdulkadir both contributed eight in the loss.
Adaba finished with 24 to spearhead Tunisia while also dishing out eight assists. Jawadi chipped in with 21, and they buried seven triples between them.
In Egypt’s win against Kuwait, they went ahead by as many as 33 points. Mazen Mohamed paced his side with 15 while Abdulrahman Khaled had 12 and skipper Ahmed Moheb 11. Kuwait’s Abdulrahman Al Shammari had 17 in the losing effort, while Sahou Alshammri chipped in with 14. The Kuwaitis suffered their third successive loss.
In Algeria’s triumph, they controlled the game from the start and responded well to the UAE’s attempts to mount a comeback in the second half. They enjoyed leads as big as 39 points latae in the contest. Roubai Mohamed had 14 points as their top scorer, while Labouize Nadyr and Sedoud Chakib each finished with 11. Demarco Dickerson scored 19 for the Emiratis while Hassan Hussein contributed 14 in their first loss in three outings.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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