BASKETBALL – Travin Thibodeaux scored 34 points to go along with 11 rebounds and four assists to lead defending champions Manama to a 102-82 win over Kazma Club in the fourth Group B game for both teams in the 2023-24 West Asia Super League (WASL) – Gulf Region at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex in Kuwait.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Bahraini club, whose fourth consecutive win in the tournament means that they remain unbeaten across all competitions this season.
Having led 28-25 after the first quarter and 52-48 at half-time, Manama were put increasingly under pressure in the third quarter by the hosts who, after trailing 62-53 after three minutes, slowly began to fight their way back into contention.
Ahmed Albaloushi, Abdulaziz Alhamidi, Clint Chapman and Travis Leslie combined to bring Kazma Club within touching distance of Manama, at 62-61 with four minutes still to go in the third quarter.
The excellent Sir’Dominic Pointer then sank a two-point jump shot to make it 64-61 for Manama only for Yousiff Borhamah to reply with a layup with the scoreboard reading 64-63.
Thibodeaux put Manama four points ahead again, at 67-63, with a beautiful three-point jump shot but Borhamah scored another layup before Kazma Club were awarded two free throws shortly thereafter which Leslie sank both comfortably to make the scores level, at 67-67.
By the time the third quarter ended, there was still nothing to separate the two sides with the scoreboard reading 70-70 and, after three minutes had elapsed in the fourth and final quarter, they were still tied at 75-75 with Kazma Club looking increasingly confident.
Ahmed Haji then scored a three-point jump shot to make it 78-75 for Manama but Albaloushi, with a free throw; Chapman, with a dunk, and Abdulrahman Aljuma’h, with a layup, pushed Kazma Club into a two-point lead, at 80-78.
There were still five minutes left in the game and Manama had to make the most of them if they were to maintain their unbeaten record in the competition.
And that is exactly what they did with Pointer pointing the way with a lay-up that levelled the score, at 80-80, before Ali Husain, with a two-point jump shot, with two three-point jump shots in succession, pushed Manama into an eight-point lead, at 88-80, with three minutes left till the final buzzer.
From then on, it was all Manama as Haji, with a two-point jump shot; Husain, with two free throws; Haji, again, with a three-point jump shot and new American recruit Cameron Clark with four free throws added 14 points in the remaining time while all the hosts could manage were two from a dunk by Chapman.
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