BASKETBALL – Al Ahli drew first blood against bitter rivals Manama last night in their best-of-three play-off series for a semi-final berth in the Gulf sub-zone of the 2024-25 Fiba West Asia Super League (WASL).
Ahli banked on a strong start to come away with a resounding 65-56 victory over the first-ever WASL champions at the Bahrain Basketball Association Arena in Um Al Hassam.
Ahli led virtually the entire way, going up by as many as 16 points and then staving off a late Manama rally where they made it a two-possession game.
Ahmed Alderazi buried a crucial three pointer with just under three minutes remaining to stretch Ahli’s advantage back to seven, and then Elijah Thomas ended Manama’s hopes with a basket in the paint, which pegged the final score.
Ahli are now one win away from advancing to the WASL Gulf final four, where Shabab Al Ahli of the UAE are waiting for another best-of-three series.
Manama, on the other hand, will look to take game two on Monday next week and extend their head-to-head to a winner-take-all third game, scheduled for March 3.
The winners of this all-Bahraini play-off will begin their match-up against Shabab Al Ahli on March 10 with game one. Game two will then be on March 17, and then a third game, if required, will be held on March 24.
In last night’s affair, Ahli built a 17-12 lead at the end of the first quarter and maintained their strong form in the second to go up 36-28 at the half.
Ahli stayed in control in the third when Manama head coach Linos Gavriel was ejected from the game, and they took a double-digit lead, 55-42, into the final frame. There, they powered to their biggest lead of the night when Maitham Jameel fired in from beyond the arc to go up 58-42, but Manama gradually clawed their way back to make Ahli sweat.
They went on a 10-0 run, capped by an Avelon Luke John Jr lay-up, and later made it 56-60 with another John Jr basket and just under four minutes to play. That was as close as they would get, however, as it set the stage for Alderazi’s all-important triple. Thomas then virtually sealed the win with over two minutes still on the game clock, and neither side scored the rest of the way.
Alderazi finished with a team-high 22 points, including four three-pointers, while Jameel and Thomas each contributed 12 markers. Thomas also had 12 rebounds. Dominique Sutton had a double-double for the victors with 10 points and 10 boards.
For Manama, Tony Carr was their only player in double figures with 25 points. John Jr and Subah Hussain finished with eight points each in the losing effort.
The Ahli-Manama series is one of two play-off pairings being held to determine two available spots in the Gulf semi-finals. The other is between Kuwait SC of Kuwait and Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia, which tips off today in Kuwait City. The victor in that series will move on to play Al Qadsia, also of Kuwait, in the semis.
Shabab Al Ahli and Qadsia earned automatic berths in the final four having topped their respective groups in the preliminary round.
The two semi-final winners will then square off for the WASL Gulf title, also to be held best-of-three, currently scheduled for April. The losers in the semis will play for third place that same month.
The top three teams from WASL Gulf sub-zone as well as the WASL West Asia sub-zone will qualify for the Fiba WASL Final Eight. They will be joined by the champions of South and Central Asia to determine this season’s overall WASL champions.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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