BASKETBALL – NUWAIDRAT and Samaheej both advanced to the semi-finals last night of the 2024-25 Khalifa bin Salman Cup.
Nuwaidrat secured their spot after cruising past Al Najma 100-74, while Samaheej claimed their berth after edging past Al Ettihad 68-60.
Both games were played at the Bahrain Basketball Association Arena in Umm Al Hassam, and the results confirmed that there are two sides apiece remaining from this season’s Premier League and League B of the Zain Bahrain Basketball League.
League B champions Nuwaidrat will next take on three-time defending league champions and two-time reigning Khalifa bin Salman Cup holders Manama in the semis, while League B runners-up Samaheej will face this season’s Premier League leaders Muharraq in their last four clash.
Both semi-finals will be played in best-of-three format.
In Nuwaidrat’s big victory over Najma, they used a strong second-quarter performance to turn a slim 26-22 advantage at the end of the first period to a 50-36 cushion at the break. Nuwaidrat maintained their high level in the third, and after Najma got to within 10 points in the final frame, they replied with a decisive 14-0 run – sparked by three successive three-pointers by Elijah Tillman and Omran Hasan, who had two – to close the game out.
Tillman finished with a monster effort of 33 points and 21 rebounds to spearhead Nuwaidrat, whose final winning margin was also their biggest of the night. Malik Wineglass added 24 and Hasan finished with 17.
For Najma, Mohammed Hussain scored 10 points while Shamorie Ponds added 15 and Tyler Wilkerson 14.
In Samaheej’s triumph, they shrugged off a horrid start, where they scored just seven points in the opening quarter, to edge ahead in the last canto, where they dominated Ettihad 25-12.
Samaheej were behind 43-48 after three, but then a Kibi Mania basket with two-and-a-half minutes to play broke a 60-all deadlock and gave them the lead for good. Samaheej ended the contest with an 8-0 run as Ettihad were unable to score the rest of the way.
Mania finished as the game’s leading scorer with 29 points and 15 rebounds, while Mohammed Abdulla Jaffar added 13. Hassan Fahad paced Ettihad with 20 points in the loss, while Sayed Mohammed Hameed chipped in with 14.
The Khalifa bin Salman Cup semi-finals are scheduled to begin with each series’ first game on Tuesday.
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