Manama cruise to 2-0 start with historic win over Al Shamal

MANAMA (Bahrain) - Manama breezed past Al Shamal, 108-71, to go 2-0 in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) Season 2, Monday night at the BBA Arena.

In a stark contrast to their campaign-opening victory over Kazma last November 20, the reigning champions dictated the pace right in the first quarter before going full throttle in the third to remain spotless and snare the provisional solo lead in Group B of the Gulf League.

Group B

3/12 games played

		GAMES				STREAK	GAME POINTS					POINTS
#	Team	P	W	L	%	Last 5	For	Agt	+/-	FA	AA
1	Manama	2	2	0	100		192	147	45	96	73.5	4
2	Shabab Al Ahli - Dubai	1	1	0	100		96	63	33	96	63	2
3	Al Shamal	2	0	2	0		134	204	-70	67	102	2
4	Kazma	1	0	1	0		76	84	-8	76	84	1

Game heroes: Ahmed Haji led the way with 24 points, including 10 in the opening period alone that saw Manama end it with a 16-point lead that proved to be the start of a one-sided affair.

Travin Thibodeaux finished with 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Last game's star Mosti Rashed continued his fiery form from deep with five treys on the way to 19 points.

Tony Farmer has seemingly figured out his team's scheme of things and wound up with 17 points and 12 rebounds, together with 3 assists and a steal in 17 minutes.

Sir'Dominic Pointer, ultimately, tallied the game's highest efficiency rating with 31 behind his all-around numbers of 11 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks.

STEP AHEAD Player of the Game: Haji deservingly earned STEP AHEAD Player of the Game honors for his solid performance after scoring only 8 against Kazma.

Turning point: Manama were only leading by six with under four minutes to go in the first until Pointer hit a corner triple, which sparked a 12-2 run to end the period with a 26-10 edge.

The visiting side managed to cut the gap to eight during the second quarter but that proved to be the last time they'd get that near as Rashed nailed a trey of his own to restore order.

Their lead would rise to as high as 38 late in the game.

Stats don't lie: Manama dished out 31 assists, which is now the all-time most in a FIBA WASL game. The previous mark was 29 set by Orthodox Amman in their 105-95 win over Al Riyadi in Game 2 of their West Asia League Qualification to Semi-Finals series back in Season 1.

They said: "First of all, we are satisfied with the win. Winning at home by 37 points is always a good feeling. Obviously the team is a little bit rusty because the last couple of months we didn't have official games where we could be competitive in the league, and this is affecting our game shape and the way we try to play ... despite that, the guys made good effort for three quarters because the second quarter, we lost it and that's unacceptable so we need to fix it in practice. But at least, for three quarters, they did their job. So we're gonna go back to practice, correct our mistakes, and keep working hard for the future." - Linos Gavriel, Head Coach, Manama

"For me, it's just going out there and competing. I never chase stats, I never look at my points. For me it's just competing and trying to do whatever Coach says, and however my team is trying to play. Some nights my shots will fall, some nights it won't, some nights some other player's shots will fall. That's the luxury of our team. Every game it's gonna be somebody's night, and we have to find whoever's night it is and find him, and defend. And let the offense come to us. We are 15 players deep offensively." - Ahmed Haji, Manama

FIBA