BAHRAIN champions Manama made easy work of Oman’s Nizwa 78-54 yesterday in the 38th Gulf Clubs Basketball Championship in Muscat.
The competition is also being held as the FIBA Asia Champions Cup GBA Qualifiers.
Point guard Terrell Stoglin erupted for 36 points to spearhead the Bahrainis to victory. The six-foot, one-inch American buried six three-pointers.
His countryman seven-foot, two-inch former NBA veteran Loren Woods added 11 points and 24 rebounds.
Skipper Mohammed Hussain and big man Mohammed Ameer chipped in with 11 points apiece.
The win was the first for Manama in two games in Group ‘B’ of the first round. They had earlier lost to Sharjah of the UAE.
All four teams in this group move to the next stage with exception of the top-ranked squad which advances directly to the semi-finals.
Bahrain’s other representatives in the tournament Muharraq are one of three teams in Group ‘A’. All three clubs move to the next phase, regardless of their record after a single round-robin.
Manama shrugged off a slow start and took control of the game in the second quarter when they turned a 19-all deadlock to a 37-25 advantage at the break.
Nizwa did well to stay within striking distance of their rivals at 42-55 heading into the final canto, but Manama blew things wide open with a strong fourth quarter when they outscored Nizwa 23-12 to cruise to the final buzzer.
Aaron Mitchell top scored for Nizwa with 19 points. He also had eight rebounds, four assists and an impressive seven steals.
Ahmed Alhalhali chipped in with 10 points as Nizwa’s only other player in double-figures.
Lead
Manama at one stage led by as many as 27 points, although they did not shoot any better than Nizwa, finishing the game with a 44.68 shooting percentage as compared to Nizwa’s 45.65 per cent.
Both teams were able to score 36 points in the paint, including 14 on the fast break for Manama with just 11 for Nizwa.
Manama outrebounded their rivals 53-42 and also had a few more assists than Nizwa at 14-11.
Three games are scheduled for today, the last day of the first round.
At 1pm, Bahrain time, Muharraq will be looking for their second successive victory when they take on Qatar’s Al Arabi. It will be followed at 3pm by Sharjah facing Nizwa and then at 5pm Manama take on Qatar’s Al Rayyan.
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