Manama sweep Group B after escaping Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai

MANAMA (Bahrain) - Manama escaped Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai, 78-74, to sweep Group B of the FIBA WASL-Gulf League Season 2, Tuesday night at the BBA Arena.

Free throws by Sir'Dom Pointer and Ahmed Haji, plus a costly turnover along the sideline by opposing reinforcement Chavaughn Lewis, proved enough for the home team to come out with the W after the visitors got to within a point, 75-74, with 19.3 seconds left to play.

The reigning FIBA WASL champions will head into the sub-zone Semi-Finals with a perfect 6-0 record. Their Emirati counterparts, meanwhile, finished with a 3-3 card.

Group B

11/12 games played

		GAMES				STREAK	GAME POINTS					POINTS
#	Team	P	W	L	%	Last 5	For	Agt	+/-	FA	AA
1	Manama	6	6	0	100		575	453	122	95.8	75.5	12
2	Shabab Al Ahli - Dubai	6	3	3	50.0		515	466	49	85.8	77.7	9
3	Kazma	5	2	3	40.0		430	429	1	86	85.8	7
4	Al Shamal	5	0	5	0		373	545	-172	74.6	109	5

Game heroes: A total of six players, including the starting five, finished in double figures in the win, with Haji leading the way as he finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Pointer provided all-around numbers with 13 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 blocks. Fellow reinforcement Cameron Clark supplied 12 points and 7 boards.

Travin Thibodeaux made 11 points, while the tandem of Mohammed Ameer and Hassan Nowrooz delivered 10 points apiece and combined for 11 rebounds.

STEP AHEAD Player of the Game: Pointer deservingly earned the nod for his display of versatility, which ultimately enabled him to net an efficiency rating of 16.

 

Turning point: Thibodeaux was responsible for breaking the 60-all deadlock following a successful three-point play conversion with 5:23 remaining in the final quarter.

Manama would remain ahead the rest of the way. They even held a six-point edge, 72-66, behind a pair of free throws by Thibodeaux as well with under three minutes to go.

Still, it wasn't without major threats from the opposition. Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai slowly chipped away the deficit, and Lewis' own three-point play - a contact dunk over Pointer plus a free throw - pulled themselves to within a point, 75-74, with 19.3 seconds left.

Pointer, though, would give his team more breathing space after a split from the line shortly after. He then stepped up on defense, helping force Lewis to a turnover.

Haji would then seal the game through a perfect trip to the foul line with exactly eight seconds left to play, ultimately allowing Manama to win another tight affair against Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai, which they beat by only six points, 73-67, in their first encounter.

Stats don't lie: The loss overshadowed the milestone of forward Qais Omar Alshabebi, who tallied a FIBA WASL personal-high 15 rebounds. He also had 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.

They said: "First of all, I want to congratulate the players on the win. It's a very important win for us in order to continue winning this season. Still, we are unbeaten in the FIBA WASL but like I said, nobody wins titles in February. We're gonna try to build on that. It was important that on a bad or below-average offensive night, we found ways to win. We're missing a couple of pieces in the perimeter and sometimes it creates problems, but the guys did a good job closing the game. The winning mentality is still there." - Linos Gavriel, Head Coach, Manama

"That's just the way I play. Coach did a good scheme in getting me in the positions to play help defense and that's all it really was. I'm always excited to play basketball any day I get a chance to. And defense is one of my staples. So I play hard on both ends of the floor, and defense, I excel in it." - Sir'Dom Pointer, Manama

"We need to be extremely ready when we play against Manama especially when it comes to stamina because the players got tired during the third and fourth quarters. Frankly, the team is not as ready as it should be at this point in time just like the way we started the season, and that's due to a few injuries and other reasons that affected their stamina, But it was a tight game and we congratulate Manama." - Oualid Zrida, Head Coach, Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai

"I commend my teammates for the tenacity and the resilience to not give up and continue to fight and that gave me the motivation to have time to get back into the game. I don't want to make excuses but the reality is, we have some unfortunate things going on within our team so I just want to commend the guys that fought tonight ... We fought until the end. I made an unfortunate turnover at the end but that's the part of the game. Now we just gotta go back to the lab, to practice, and fix the things that we need to fix." - Chavaughn Lewis, Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai

FIBA