BASKETBALL – BAHRAIN’S Manama Club suffered a heavy 78-103 defeat to Al Ahly Tripoli from Libya yesterday in the 37th Arab Basketball Championship for Men’s Clubs, which is currently being played in Dubai, the UAE.
Manama had a horrific start to the contest, giving up a whopping 43 points in the first quarter alone while scoring just eight. They then fell behind by as many as 37 early in the second and although they outscored Ahly in the period as well as in the third, never got back to within single digits.
The result marked the second successive loss for the kingdom’s representatives to begin the tournament, following their opening Group B defeat to Antonin Sportif of Lebanon. They have one game remaining in this ongoing preliminary round. It is against Kuwait SC from Kuwait tomorrow at 3pm, Bahrain time.
Based on the results of the opening phase, which features four groups in all, eight match-ups will be determined in an ensuing knockout stage on Wednesday and Thursday, which will involve all 16 clubs. That will pave the way for the quarter-finals on Saturday, followed by the semi-finals the next day and then the gold and bronze medal games on Monday next week, the competition’s concluding day.
All games are being played at Dubai’s Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Hall.
Group A features home club Al Nasr of the UAE, Homs Al Fida from Syria, Al Shaab Hadramaut from Yemen, and Al Qadsia of Kuwait. Group C is composed of Al Arabi of Qatar, Kazma of Kuwait, Al Seeb of Oman, and Al Mina from Yemen. Group D comprises Al Hikma from Lebanon, Al Wahda SC from Syria, Al Basher from Oman, and Al Rayyan of Qatar.
Following their dismal opening frame yesterday, Manama battled back and had a 23-10 second quarter but were still down 31-53 at the half. They continued to chip away at the deficit in the third and entered the final canto trailing 55-72. There, two free-throws by Daniel Hamilton got them to within 12, 60-72, with nine minutes still to play, but that was as close as they would get, and Ahly replied with a 7-0 run to restore a 20-point advantage. They did enough to maintain their commanding lead until the final whistle.
Hamilton finished as Manama’s top performer with a triple double of 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists, but he also committed seven turnovers in the loss. Hasan Nowrooz chipped in with 17 off the bench including five three-pointers, while Subah Hussain had 13.
Marcos Knight and Aith Rahman Al Maghribi combined for 48 points for Ahly, with Knight scoring 25.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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