BASKETBALL – Bahrain's youth basketball national team powered to their second straight victory yesterday in the 22nd U16 Arab Basketball Championship for Youth, currently being played in Cairo, Egypt.
The nationals outclassed Algeria 80-54 at the Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex at the Egyptian capital.
The Bahrainis used a dominant third quarter – highlighted by 18 unanswered points – to take control of the contest. They held their opponents to just seven points the entire period while scoring 24 of their own to turn a slim 34-35 deficit to a commanding 58-42 lead. They never looked back from there, and the 26-point winning margin was also their biggest gap of the game.
This year’s U16 Arab Basketball Championship for Youth is being played with six nations in the mix. It has been organised and is being run by the Arab Basketball Confederation (ABC), in cooperation with the Egyptian Basketball Federation.
At the end of a single round-robin, the top two teams on the standings qualify directly to the gold medal game.
Yesterday’s win followed Bahrain’s 90-58 rout of Qatar in their opening fixture on Sunday.
For the second straight game, the reigning Gulf Basketball Association champions had a slow start and, despite leading 5-0, they trailed 12-14 at the end of the first quarter. The Algerians remained aggressive in the second and went into the half narrowly in front, 35-34.
But in the third, after Eddine Alloune hit a jump shot to give Algeria a 39-38 edge, the Bahrainis went on their game-changing 18-0 run, sparked by a Hassan Oshobuge Abdulkadir lay-up and capped by a Hassan Fouad three-pointer.
That helped them go into the final frame with a 16-point cushion, and they didn’t take their foot off the gas all the way to the final buzzer.
Fouad and Abdulkadir top scored for the Bahrainis with 20 points apiece – with Fouad also firing in three triples and Abdulkadir taking down 15 rebounds while blocking an impressive six shots.
Youssef Mashaai added 17 points off the bench for Bahrain, while captain Aly Hussien had nine and Somto Patrick Onoduenyi scored four but grabbed 16 boards.
Redouane Bertouche had 15 points to pace Algeria, who suffered their first loss after opening the competition with a 76-74 victory against hosts Egypt. Alloune added 12 and 11 rebounds while Anes Hadjoudj had 11 and 10 boards.
The Bahrainis are back in action today when they hope to maintain their unbeaten record so far against Kuwait at 1pm. Tomorrow is a rest day, and then the nationals face Tunisia at 1pm on Thursday. They then complete their preliminary round schedule on Friday against hosts Egyptians at 7pm. All times are Bahrain.
The nationals are playing in this ABC competition after winning last month the Fiba U16 Asia Cup GBA Qualifiers 2025. They thus also punched their tickets – along with Saudi Arabia – to this year’s Fiba U16 Asia Cup, to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, next month.
In another game yesterday, the Kuwaitis edged past Qatar 61-59.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))