Cleanthony Early turned on the heat with 37 points, five rebounds and an assist as Al Ettihad strolled to a dominant 96-82 win over Muharraq last night at the Khalifa Sport City Arena in the first game of their best-of-three semi-final series of the Zain Bahrain Basketball League.
The 6’8” American power forward was in his element as he scored two- and three-pointers at will, ably backed up by his giant Ukrainian teammate, Viacheslav Kravtsov – standing seven feet tall and playing as a centre – who netted 20 points with 19 rebounds and three assists.
Local boy Ali Jassim provided crucial support with 13 points, two rebounds and five assists as Al Ettihad sped to a 52-47 lead by half-time and entered the fourth and final quarter leading by 10 points at 79-69.
Muharraq briefly threatened to fight their way back into the game as the last quarter began, coming within four points of Al Ettihad at 75-79 with seven minutes left.
But Al Ettihad inched further ahead and, with four-and-a-half minutes to go till the final buzzer, found themselves leading by eight points, at 87-79.
With just two minutes left in the game, Al Ettihad’s lead had swelled to 11 points with the scoreboard reading 92-11 in their favour and, with Muharraq seeming to be completely off their game with passes being flubbed by teammates or intercepted by the eventual victors, soon had the game comfortably sewn up.
However, in the first quarter, Muharraq had shown considerable character as they stormed back from a 10-point deficit at 8-18 after the first five minutes of the game to lead by a single point at 24-23 with about a minute to go before the buzzer went off to signal the end of the first 10-minute period.
But Al Ettihad, spurred on by the Early and Kravtsov partnership, entered the second quarter leading 27-26 and did not relinquish their lead again for the rest of the game.
The two teams will meet again on Wednesday for the second game and, if Muharraq manage to claw their way back into contention, will play the third match on May 20.
Meanwhile, Manama and Al Ahli will face off against each other today in the final game of their best-of-three semi-final series with the winner marching into the final.
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