Higher Stakes: Each Gulf Semi-Finalist's case of getting to WASL Final 8

BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The Big Dance is getting closer and closer now that the WASL-Gulf League are entering the Semi-Finals beginning on Monday.

Manama and Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai completed the Final Four by way of the recently-concluded Qualification to Semis, dispatching their respective opponents to earn the right to face early entrants Al Hilal and Kuwait Club, respectively.

The inaugural competitions are now heading into a crucial stretch, with all ball clubs looking to make their way into the WASL Final 8.

For a bit of a refresher, the two finalists and the third-placed team from both Gulf and West Asia leagues are assured of a spot in the much-awaited tilt in June.

So, for each league, four teams will be slugging it out for three tickets, which will surely increase the excitement over the course of this Semi-Finals round.

It goes without saying that every crew worked their way into this round, and their path towards said stage also became an avenue to prove their own case of making it to the Final 8. Now is high time for us to take a look at it.

KUWAIT CLUB: The best on both ends

Kuwait Club swept their way into the Semi-Finals (6-0) and that's mainly because of the work they all put in on both ends of the floor.

The team of Coach Peter Schomers, despite the many battles that happened over the past three weeks, remains the best-scoring team in the Gulf with 99.5 points per game and still leads the league in rebounds with 49.3 per contest.

Shooting 47.8-percent from the field, the crew is led by Cody Lalanne, Jacob Pullen, Marcus Georges-Hunt, and Hamad Hasan, although the trio of Omran Jawar, Turki Alshemmari, and Mohammad Hasan provide solidly as well.

But what has been slightly talked about Kuwait Club is their ability to defend. A team that averages a Gulf-best 5.3 blocks per outing, they're also known to force their foes to convert just 37.9-percent of their shots from the floor.

SHABAB AL AHLI-DUBAI: Gotten deeper

It sure is a tough blow for Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai to be missing Qais Omar Alshabebi for a significant amount of time due to a leg injury, but the recent Qualification to Semi-Finals round showed that the club has adapted the next-man-up mentality extremely well.

While most of their offense revolves around Alshabebi and reinforcements Nick Minnerath and Brandon Triche, their 93-71 Game 3 conquest of Al Nasr Riyadh to reach the semis saw a total of five - yes, five - players deliver in double digits.

Surprisingly, Mohammad Alajmani led the way with 24 points for easily his best game in WASL. He was just averaging 3.7 points prior to the outburst.

Minnerath himself showed that there's more to him than scoring as he had 22 points and 14 rebounds for his first WASL double-double. Triche regained his old form with 20, while Hamid Albreiki and Milan Milosevic added 15 and 10, respectively.

It could be said that one game is too small of a sample size to assess things, but it's definitely good news for the team to see that they can still up the ante when nearly everybody is as involved as they were in eliminating the KSA club.

And to see that they can maul opponents by 20-plus points again the same way they did in some of their games that led to a 4-0 start into the season should also send a strong message to Shabab Al Ahli that they are never to be taken lightly.

MANAMA: Right mix, finally

Manama were among those who switched players midway into the season and apparently, they've found the right mix that could help them make a deeper run.

Proof of that was the Qualification to the Semi-Finals. New guys Lamont Jones and Travin Thibodeaux meshed so well with the squad that they took down Kazma, coming back from a 0-1 series deficit by sweeping the last two games to reach the Semi-Finals.

Brought in late in the Group Phase, Jones, more known as 'Momo,' has emerged as the Bahraini side's top scorer with 22.8 points as he not only provides more firepower but has also become the team's primary closer.

Thibodeaux, for his part, has sprung as a huge boost to a frontline that already has Elijah Robinson and Mohammad Hamooda, helping cut Kazma's size bannered by Salah Mejri through his athleticism and sheer effort.

So, it would be intriguing to see how this beefed-up Manama will fare against Al Hilal which has two of the best bigs in the Gulf, which we'll discuss later.

AL HILAL: Towers of power

Mohammed Alsuwailem has become one of the more recognizable figures in the region due to his fine play with Saudi Arabia in FIBA competitions, and that same reason has also made Al Hilal as one of the Gulf favorites.

With averages of 16.2 points and 14.7 rebounds, the 2.08 M (6'10") slotman was a major driving force to the club's semis trip, but it's not just him alone who's been causing headaches to the other teams' defense upfront.

Alsuwailem has formed a towering tandem with Clint Chapman, who's Al Hilal's best scorer with 19.2 points -- the 34-year-old, who also stands at 2.08 M (6'10"), is sharing the Gulf single-game scoring record of 34 markers.

With much of the defense focused on the two, the others have made it a point to exploit gaps, with guys like Khalid Abdel Gabar, Tavarius Shine, and Osama Albargawi, to name some, doing as much that has helped the team hugely.

FIBA