&uuid=(email))
Kazma Club, of Kuwait, dominated the last two quarters of the first game of the three-match play-offs of the West Asia Super League (WASL)-Gulf Region to prevail, 83-69, over Manama last night at the Zain Basketball Arena.
With the score tied 38-38 at half-time, the many Manama fans who had packed the arena must have hoped that their team would pull ahead and grab the chance to go 1-0 up in the three-game series.
But when they reappeared on court after the break, Kazma looked transformed from the team that had fumbled its way through the first quarter which ended with Manama leading by a whopping 13 points at 30-17.
They had fought their way into even keel in the second quarter when they scored 21 points to Manama’s eight but still looked like a side trying to come to terms with their opponents and the massive home support they had.
But, in the third quarter, all uncertainty seemed to have vanished and Kazma netted another 23 points to Manama’s 17 to enter the final 10 minutes of the game, leading by six points at 61-55.
The Bahrain club must have hoped for a fourth-quarter performance similar to how they began the game but all such hopes dissipated as the visitors increased their lead to eight points, at 65-57, with just eight minutes left till the final buzzer.
Shane Legend Rector soon made it a nine-point lead when he sank three free throws in a row and when the imperious Latavious Williams scored a two-pointer soon thereafter, Kazma were leading 70-59 with only six minutes to go.
But Manama were not about to give up and Ahmed Haji nailed a three-pointer to make it 62-70 but the local fans had barely finished clapping when Abdulaziz Mohsen replied with a quick two-pointer with the scoreboard reading 72-62 in favour of Kazma.
There were less than five minutes to go by now and Manama’s Lamont Jones helped to perk the crowd up a bit when he sank a two-pointer to reduce the deficit to eight points at 64-72 but first Ahmad Albaloushi and then Williams increased Kazma’s lead to 12 points at 78-66 less than three minutes later.
Soon, the lead had increased to 14 points, at 80-66, when Albaloushi scored another two-pointer but there were barely 75 seconds left to play and even though Haji sank another beautiful three-pointer with about a minute till full-time, the crowd knew the game was up with the scoreboard reading 80-69.
There was enough time for Williams to add to his tally with a two-pointer and another point off a free throw before the buzzer went off to signal the end of the game.
The two teams will now travel to Kuwait for the second game next Monday before returning to Bahrain for the final match (if needed) on April 10.
The winners of this three-match playoff will head into the semi-finals where they will take on Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, who finished on top of the four-team Group A table. Kazma were third on that list, while Manama came in second in the Group B table behind Kuwait Club – who are also already in the semi-finals.
&uuid=(email))