ARCH-RIVALS Manama and Muharraq will clash again tonight in the second game of the best-of-five 2022-23 Zain Basketball League final series at the Khalifa Sports City Arena.
Defending champions Manama currently lead the series 1-0 after skipping to a 93-85 win in front of a packed house at the same venue last Friday and will want to go 2-0 up as they try to consolidate their advantage in their quest to add yet another title to the 21 they have won already – the most by any team since the league started in the 1974-75 season.
Three-time champions Muharraq, meanwhile, will want to bounce back after seeing the first game slip away from them in the last few minutes. They will also try to end Manama’s winning streak against them with their traditional rivals having also triumphed in the final of the Khalifa bin Salman Cup last Monday.
And while Muharraq will look to their American pros Dewayne Jackson and Shabazz Nagee Muhammad to lead the way, they will doubtless be hoping that their local players make their presence felt a little more than they did in the first game.
Jackson (30 points, six rebounds and eight assists) and Muhammad (28 points, 16 rebounds and five assists) did the bulk of the scoring in the series opener with only captain Bader Abdulla also managing to get into double figures (11 points, three rebounds and three assists).
Ali Shukralla, Baqer Isa, Hussain Salman, brothers Ali and Abdulla Rabeea and Ali Jaffar will need to step up their game if they intend to stop Manama from taking a potentially series-winning, 2-0 lead, leaving Muharraq a mountain to climb by needing to win all three remaining games to clinch the championship.
Meanwhile, with their own American stars Travin Thibodeaux (21 points, six rebounds and three assists in the first final) and Sir’Dominic Pointer (16 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists) having contributed the most to their scoresheets over the season, Manama, themselves, will also be hoping that their Bahrain players step out of the giant shadows cast by their overseas teammates and contribute more tellingly to their cause.
Not that they haven’t sparkled. In the first game, the nimble Mustafa Husain scored 18 points to go with five rebounds and two assists while his brother, Ali, also racked up eight points to go with two rebounds.
And the ever-solid Mohammed Ameer had 10 points, five rebounds and one assist to show for his efforts while Ahmed Salman and Ahmed Aldurazi also pitched in whenever they got an opportunity.
A sell-out crowd is expected again at the 3,600-seat arena which, in the first game, had nearly filled up almost three hours before the scheduled start of the game at 7pm – the same time at which tonight’s match will begin.
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