Manama created history last night as they beat Kuwait Club 67-59 in a pulsating final at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall in Dubai to become the first-ever FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) champions.
The victory also constituted sweet revenge for Manama for the four defeats they had suffered to Kuwait Club in the 2022-23 FIBA WASL-Gulf Region basketball tournament – two in the group stage and two in the best-of-three finals – which began in December.
When the game entered its last 10 seconds, Manama were already assured of victory as they led by eight points at 67-59 and, when the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game, dozens of their supporters in the stands celebrated as wildly as the players on court, some of whom collapsed to the ground, overcome by emotion.
Although some diehard Manama supporters had attended every previous game in the tournament in Dubai, they were joined by many more yesterday, once the Bahraini club qualified for the final on Friday night, who were flown to the UAE in a specially chartered plane on the directives of Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
He was present in the arena to witness the historic triumph and posed for photographs as he held the trophy with Manama captain Hassan Nowrooz and later smiled even more broadly as more pictures were taken of him with the entire team and support staff.
About two hours earlier, when the final began, the scene couldn’t have been more different. Kuwait clearly had a psychological advantage because of their four consecutive wins over Manama in the WASL-Gulf Sub-Zone tournament and they immediately sped to a 10-4 lead, five minutes into the first quarter.
But Manama turned things around in the next five minutes, ending the quarter, leading 18-14.
That momentum carried over into the second quarter with Kuwait Club, now clearly on the defensive, trying desperately to catch up as Manama extended their lead to nine points, at 30-21, after five minutes before striding into the change room at half-time, leading by 13 points, with the scoreboard reading 39-26.
Halfway through the third quarter, Manama led by a whopping 19 points, at 50-31, and their fans had begun to dance up a storm in the stands, believing that there was no way Kuwait Club could overcome that deficit.
But the Kuwaiti side still had some fight left in them and, thanks to Hamad Hasan, Marcus Georges-Hunt and Cody Lalanne, had reduced the margin to 11 points, at 50-39, by the time the third quarter ended.
Manama, who had been unable to score in the last five minutes of the third period, needed to get some momentum going quickly in the fourth and final quarter.
And the excellent Travin Thibodeaux obliged in the third minute with a two-pointer that made the score, 52-39. Just seconds later, Hasan did the same for Kuwait Club with the scoreboard now reading 52-41.
The brilliant Sir’Dominic Pointer then stepped up for Manama with a layup to make it 54-41 but Lalanne replied almost immediately with a floating jump shot that brought the deficit back down to 11 points, at 54-43.
Pointer drew a foul soon afterwards and netted the resulting two free throws easily to make it 56-43. Another foul, this time on Kuwait Club’s Hasan, resulted in two free throws being awarded to him, which he also converted with ease.
The scoreboard now read 56-45 and when Thibodeaux made a two-point jump shot with five minutes left in the game, Manama led 58-45 and their fans had already started celebrating, a bit prematurely, in the stands.
To their dismay, Manama seemed to lose their ability to score over the next three-and-a-half minutes while Kuwait Club steadily inched closer, thanks to Lalanne and Hasan who combined to add 10 points to their tally.
Suddenly, with less than a minute and a half to go, Manama were just three points ahead, at 58-55, and were looking decidedly shaky. Was this the moment that Kuwait Club could sneak ahead and claim their fifth consecutive win over the Bahraini side and snatch away the trophy that had appeared to be in their grasp just minutes earlier?
Luckily for Manama, Jeremy Deshawn Evans drew a foul just then and calmly converted the two free throws he was awarded. With 81 seconds left on the clock, the Bahraini club now led 60-55 and, when Nowrooz produced a perfect three-point jump shot 30 seconds later, Manama’s lead had jumped to eight points, at 63-55.
Their fans were now going ballistic in the stands, clapping and cheering endlessly.
Kuwait Club, however, were not giving up and, with 40 seconds left, Hasan brought them two points closer with a jump shot to make it 64-57.
A few seconds later, Pointer was awarded two free throws because of another foul on him and Manama supporters held their breath as he stepped to take them, then screamed with excitement when he converted both.
With 33 seconds left, Manama led 65-57. Surely, there was no way that Kuwait Club could somehow creep ahead now?
A dozen or so of their fans still believed they could and cheered wildly when Lalanne made a dunk. The scoreboard now read 65-57 with 27 seconds left on the clock.
Just six seconds later, it was the Manama fans’ turn to scream with happiness when the indomitable Mustafa Husain – named the MVP for the second game in succession – drew a foul and smoothly converted both the free throws he was awarded.
At 67-59, Kuwait Club needed a miracle to somehow win the match from that position but none was forthcoming and soon the Manama players and fans were celebrating a magnificent triumph.
The Manama-Kuwait Club rivalry will continue in the FIBA Champions Cup, for which both teams qualified by virtue of being finalists in the FIBA WASL Final 8 series, which provides the pathway to the international basketball body’s leading club competition – the Intercontinental Cup.
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