MUHARRAQ and Al Ettihad will face off this evening in what promises to be a humdinger of a final match of their best-of-three Zain Basketball League semi-final series at the Khalifa Sports City Arena. The series is tied 1-1 after Al Ettihad romped to a comfortable 96-82 victory in the first game last week before Muharraq edged them out, 94-91, in a nail-biter last Wednesday.
Three-time champions Muharraq will be hoping that their American stars, Dewayne Jackson and Dajuan Summers are able to repeat their performance from the earlier two games. In the first game, Summers, with 26 points, and Jackson, with 15, were chiefly instrumental in keeping their team in the hunt before a disappointing final quarter allowed Al Ettihad to run away with the game. And, in the second, it was Summers, with 23 points, who scored the match-winning three-pointer in the last few seconds, with Jackson top-scoring with 28 points.
Meanwhile, Al Ettihad will be looking to their overseas professionals – the American Cleanthony Early and Ukrainian Viacheslav Kravtsov – to lead the way. Early was especially impressive in the first game, racking up 37 points to go with five rebounds and an assist, while Kravtsov scored 20 points along with 19 rebounds and three assists. In the second game also, Early top-scored with 29 points with Kravtsov backing him up ably with 16 points. Local players from both teams have also been impressive.
Muharraq’s Hussain Salman and Ali Jaffar backed up their overseas teammates well in the first game with 11 and 10 points respectively. And, in the second game, Badar Abdulla added 13 points to his team’s tally, with Salman again proving his worth with 10 points. Meanwhile, for Al Ettihad, Ali Jassim, with 13 points, and Sayed Kadhem Majed, with 11, provided good support to Jackson and Summers in the first game. And, in the second, Ali Ghadeer stepped up to the plate with 17 points with Majed, again, making a valuable contribution with 14 points. Tonight’s game is scheduled for a 7pm start.
&uuid=(email))