BASKETBALL – Tony Carr buried the game-winning basket with 18 seconds remaining to lift Bahrain champions Manama to a nail-biting 67-66 victory over Ittihad Club of Saudi Arabia last night in the 2024-25 Fiba West Asia Super League (WASL).
Manama scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to break a 48-all deadlock and began to pull away from their opponents. But the hosts battled back and two pressure-packed free-throws from Makur Maker put them in front 66-65 with 27 seconds to go.
That set the stage, however, for Carr’s decisive jump shot, which helped the Bahrainis secure their first victory of this WASL season.
Yesterday’s clash was the third for both teams in Group B in the WASL’s Gulf sub-zone. It was played at Green Basketball Court in Jeddah, and it gave the two teams identical 1-2 win-loss records.
Carr finished with just six points in the game but his final two were the most crucial for Manama. Fellow-import Clint Chapman scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the victors while also registering five blocked shots.
The Bahraini backcourt of Ahmed Salman and Hassan Nowrooz added 13 markers apiece, while Avelon Luke John Jr chipped in with 11 in the win.
For Ittihad, Maker had a monster effort of 17 points and 20 rebounds in defeat, while Suleiman Braimoh contributed 15 points and 10 boards. Mathna Almarwani and Nasser Alabsi finished with 12 points apiece for the Saudis.
Manama headed into the contest determined to secure their first win of this year’s WASL tournament, having suffered an 84-90 defeat to Al Qadisiya SC of Kuwait in their opening fixture and then following that up with a narrow 84-85 loss to Al Arabi of Qatar.
They got off to a hot start and took their biggest lead of the game early at 19-7 following a Mohammed Kowayed driving lay-up. Ittihad then got into their groove but Manama stayed ahead 21-15 at the end of the first period.
Ittihad closed the gap heading into the half with Manama led by just two points, 35-33, following a pair of Salman charity shots.
Things remained close in the third and after a Nowrooz three-pointer followed by a Maker split from the free-throw line, the game was deadlocked at 48-all with only the final frame to play.
There, Manama appeared to be headed to a comfortable victory after a Salman basket gave them a 55-48 advantage, but Ittihad showed their resilience and stayed within striking distance, which led to the tight finish.
Manama are one of two Bahraini clubs competing in this year’s WASL Gulf sub-zone. Ahli are the other, playing in Group A. The two sides both have a win apiece so far after three games.
Manama are back in action on January 6 when they host Qadisiya at home. They then travel to Doha for their penultimate fixture of the preliminaries against Arabi on January 14, and then close this phase out with a game in the kingdom against Ittihad on January 21.
The top seeds at the end of the double round-robin group stage earn outright berths to the best-of-three semi-finals. The second and third-ranked teams will have to go through a cross-over play-off round for berths in the last four, which will also be held in best-of-three format.
The top three teams from both the Gulf and the WASL’s West Asia sub-zones will qualify for the WASL Final Eight, where they will be joined by the champions of South and Central Asia.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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