Streak ends at 13 as Muharraq shock Kuwait Club on the road

KUWAIT CITY (Kuwait) - Muharraq put a screeching halt to the unbeaten run of Kuwait Club in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) after scoring a massive 101-96 upset win on the road, Monday night at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex.

The Bahraini side used a strong fourth-quarter push behind Bader Malabes, Mohamed Juma, and Ali Mohamed to complete the stunner that ended the reigning Gulf League champions' 13-game winning streak in the sub-zone, which dates back from the inaugurals.

Game heroes: Malabes finished with 34 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field to star in arguably the most important win of their maiden FIBA WASL campaign.

Juma finished with 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Tyler Wilkerson registered 18 points and 16 rebounds, while Mohamed added 15 in the victory that also served as a fitting present to new head coach Saleh Ahmed Abdulla Al Haddad, who replaced Ahmed Jan.

Turning point: Game was tied at 81-all until Mohamed and Juma connived for a crucial 9-3 spurt towards a 93-84 advantage with 3:28 left to play, which put them ahead for good.

Mohammad Hasan still tried to will the home team back and got themselves to within a point, 97-96, with 5.2 seconds left, but free throws by Husain Ali and Malabes finished it as Muharraq collected their third win in a row to go 3-1 in the Group A standings.

Stats don't lie: Malabes' 34 points tied the most points anyone has scored against Kuwait Club in FIBA WASL. The first one who dropped that many points was his own teammate in Wilkerson, doing so in the Season 2 opener last November 13 although it ended up as a loss.

They said: "Winning games all the time is great. It ads to it when you win against a big team like Kuwait, As the team captain said they are the biggest team in the region for so long. It's more enjoyable when winning against a big team like Kuwait." - Saleh Ahmed Abdulla Al Haddad, Head Coach, Muharraq

"Everything has changed in the team's system. But like I said, even though we're undermanned, we're able to adjust today and we did very well." - Bader Malabes, Muharraq

"I honestly think that that was a good loss for us. The way we went into that game, part of it was circumstantial because we only had two practices as a team, we haven't played together in a month. But a big part of it was also... I just told the team, I think we just didn't respect that team enough." - Peter Schomers, Head Coach, Kuwait Club

FIBA