BASKETBALL – AUSTIN Ajukwa-led Sitra lived to fight another day after extending their best-of-three relegation series against Al Hala last night for a place in next season’s premier division of the Zain Bahrain Basketball League.
After narrowly losing game one 102-107 where Ajukwa poured in a whopping 52 points, Sitra were determined to stay in the battle and extend their match-up to a decisive third contest. They did just that – beating Hala 104-92, led by another Ajukwa masterpiece of 44 points, to force a winner-take-all affair, scheduled to be held tonight tipping off at 8.30pm.
Both teams are playing for a place in the kingdom’s top-tier basketball competition and join Muharraq, Manama, Al Najma, Al Ahli, and this campaign’s division two champions Al Ettihad for 2026-27. Ettihad are replacing Nuwaidrat, who have been relegated to the lower League Two.
Hala are competing in this relegation play-off having finished fifth in this season’s premier division standings at the end of the preliminary stage, while Sitra are looking for promotion having claimed the runner-up classification in the second division.
Yesterday’s game was played at Khalifa Sports City Arena with no fans in attendance.
Aside from a brief period in the opening quarter, Sitra led the entire evening. They came out firing in the first period and took a 28-17 advantage into the second, where they maintained their strong play to head into the half up by double digits, 55-43.
Sitra then took their biggest lead of the night of 18 points in the third when Ajukwa scored on a lay-up that made it 71-53. But Hala closed the quarter strong, going on a 15-4 rally to cut their deficit to just 68-75 with only the closing frame left to play.
There, an Abdulqader Thani three-pointer for Hala made it a two-possession game at 73-77, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way. Hala tried to stay within striking distance but Sitra made the key plays down the stretch to keep their opponents at bay.
Dhaif Husain Dhaif buried a triple to put Sitra up 90-80 with three-and-a-half minutes on the game clock, and Hala could only get back to within seven en route to the final buzzer. A pair of Dhaif free-throws and an Ali Mohsen basket from beyond the arc pegged the end result.
Ajukwa was an efficient 15-for-24 from the field and also made 12 of 16 free-throws. He almost posted a triple double, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out seven assists while nearly playing the entire 40 minutes.
Mohsen also had a fine performance with 26 points including a sensational six triples, while Dhaif chipped in with 15 for Sitra.
Thani paced Hala with 25 points and eight rebounds while Ahmed Bindayneh added 20 and Nader Shaker had 18 off the bench. Saif Matar scored 14 and took down 11 boards in the loss.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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