Still hurt by the past, Schomers' Kuwait Club out to get back at Manama

MANAMA (Bahrain) - It is the kind of pain that may only go away by exacting revenge.

Kuwait Club are now in the midst of defending their FIBA WASL-Gulf League championship and fueling their back-to-back bid has been the heartbreak they suffered at the hands of Manama in the pan-regional competition's grandest stage some 10 months ago.

"That hurt," recalled head coach Peter Schomers. "My players and I remember that."

That, indeed, hurt the veteran mentor and his wards. For starters, Kuwait Club were looking to win a double in the FIBA WASL inaugurals when they went all the way the Big Dance of the league's culminating event held at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall in Dubai.

That would have sealed their place in the young tilt's history books but the Bahraini side happened. Motivated by their Gulf League Final loss to Schomers and Co., Manama earned the sweetest of paybacks by way of a 67-59 win in the Final to take the ultimate prize.

As the rest of Coach Linos Gavriel's wards celebrated at center court hoisting the prestigious trophy, all of Kuwait Club could only watch helplessly, wondering where things went south as they just got beaten by the same club they swept to rule the Gulf League.

That's why no one, really, can put them at fault for playing hungry for retribution.

"t feels good to be in the Final again against Manama. It feels extra good because ... they beat us last time in the WASL Final," he said. "We're motivated to win the Final against anyone but of course, Manama, they beat us last time, so we're gonna try to get back at them, so to speak."

Fast forward to now and Kuwait Club are halfway through completing their revenge tour.

On Tuesday night, and despite being in enemy territory filled with a raucous crowd, the squad displayed the spunk of a champion on their way to taking Game 1 of the best-of-3 title series through an 86-74 victory, a result that left Schomers completely satisfied.

What he was particularly proud of what was how resilient his wards were in keeping grace under pressure, especially when Manama came back from a slow start and led twice during the third quarter before Tony Carr and Hamad Hasan helped restore order.

"We had some key stops and later on some key offensive plays as well. Before you know it, we were up by 10 again," he said after the game at Khalifa Sport City. "That shows confidence and poise in an hostile environment like this. It can rattle you. They got the crowd into the game."

"But resilience is the right word," he added.

Taking the character-testing win also meant giving themselves the opportunity to close it out and secure a successful title defense bid in Game 2 on April 29 in their own stomping grounds at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex in Kuwait City.

Schomers, however, refuses to be complacent as he prepares for a Manama retaliation.

"I'm glad we pulled it out. But It's not gonna get any easier, I'm sure. Right now we're relieved, we're happy. Manama is a good team. They can make the runs very fast. We have to keep respecting them and we have to stay focused," said the champion bench tactician.

"We're playing at home. [But] It doesn't make it necessarily easier, you know. The pressure is on us now," he added. "We don't want to come back here. But if we have to, we just have to stay focused. The guys have to play their roles and I think we'll be fine."

FIBA