BASKETBALL – ALGERIA maintained their undefeated run last night in the 26th Arab Men’s Basketball Championship in Bahrain with a resounding 92-66 victory over Qatar at Khalifa Sports City Arena in Isa Town.
The Algerians took a big lead early and never wavered, going up by as many as 26 points en route to securing their third win in as many games.
They had earlier also beaten Tunisia and the UAE, and are now amongst the favourites to battle for the title in this seven-nation tournament, which is being played in league format.
Ben Zaim Sid spearheaded Algeria’s youthful squad with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Briki Sofiane added 17 and Sedoud Chakib had 13 off the bench.
“We have a young team, and my goal here is not only for us to perform and win games, but the process is also very important,” Algeria head coach and former national team point guard Ali Bouziane told the GDN post-game.
“We learn every game, and it is a way for us to build. We want to improve every game.
“Qatar played really well – they gave us a lot of problems, but at the end of the day, we won, which is most important.”
Algeria have three fixtures remaining in the competition. Tonight, they face off with Kuwait at 6pm, and then go head-to-head with hosts Bahrain on Friday at 8pm. Their final assignment will be against defending champions Egypt on Saturday, which is widely expected to be an affair that could decide the tournament title.
“I am only thinking about our next game – I am not even thinking about Egypt,” Bouziane said. “We play Kuwait tomorrow, and we saw today against Qatar, who lost their first two games, they gave us a lot of problems, so we must take things game by game.
“One game at a time, and the next one is tomorrow against Kuwait. Let’s see what happens.”
Algeria built a commanding 28-14 lead at the end of the first quarter and stayed ahead 48-34 at the half. They stretched their advantage to 68-47 in the third and continued to roll in the final frame, en route to ending the contest with their largest margin of the evening.
Djan Janik finished as the leading scorer for Qatar, who are fielding their B national team in the tournament. Janik had 19 points and seven rebounds while registering six steals. Abdulla Moosa chipped in with 17 while skipper Raslan Alabdulla scored 10.
The Qataris suffered their third successive loss and are still winless, having previously bowed to Bahrain and Egypt. They next face the UAE this afternoon at 4pm, and then complete their schedule against Kuwait on Friday at 6pm and against Tunisia on Saturday at 4pm.
In another contest yesterday, Tunisia edged out the Emiratis 78-70 to claim their third win in four outings.
Omar Abada scored on a driving lay-up with 17.7 seconds remaining to help the Tunisians seal the result.
Tunisia led by as many as 17 in the opening half but the UAE roared back late in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 37-43 at the interval. The victors regained control in the third to take a 65-53 cushion into the final frame, but the Emiratis showed their fighting spirit and got to within two, 70-72, with just under a minute remaining in the game. That set the stage for Adaba’s heroics, and his team then pegged the final score from the charity stripe.
Adaba topped their score sheet with 18 points, while Yacine Toumi had 14 and Achref Gannouni 12.
Demarco Dickerson had 28 points to pace the Emiratis, who suffered their second loss to go with two wins. Khalifa Khalil and captain Qais Al Shabibi contributed 12 points apiece.
Tunisia next face off with Egypt in the feature game tonight at 8pm.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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