Al Ahli secure dominant win

Bahrain's Al Ahli Club powered to their first victory in the Gulf sub-zone of the 2024-25 Fiba West Asia Super League (WASL) last night. Ahli posted a massive 90-52 rout of Al Bashaer Club of Oman at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat. The 38-point winning margin was also the Bahrainis’ biggest lead of the contest. They registered their first victory in the preliminary round of the new WASL campaign after previously suffering losses to Kuwait SC of Kuwait and Shabab Al Ahli Dubai of the UAE. Ahli’s trio of imports did the most damage in the game, combining for 64 of the team’s points. Elijah Thomas (206-F-1996, college: Clemson, agency: MSG) led the way with 34 points from an efficient 12-of-15 from the field and a perfect nine-for-nine from the charity stripe. Dewayne Jackson (203-F-1990, college: Morgan St.) added 17 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists for Ahli, while Jordan Stevens (182-PG-1994, college: Midwestern St.) scored 13 in the win. Maitham Jameel finished as Ahli’s top-scoring Bahraini with nine points, while Ahmed Aldurazi added five and Hesham Sarhan had four. Slaven Cupkovic (205-PF-1988) and Basam Al Busaidi scored 11 points apiece to pace Bashaer, while Shakir Smith (185-PG-1992, college: ASU) chipped in with 10 in the loss. Ahli had a moderate start and took a 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. They raised their level and extended that advantage to 44-30 at the half. The Bahrainis continued their strong play in the third quarter where they widened the gap even further to 65-44 heading into the final canto. There, they finished things off strong, scoring 25 points while holding the Omani hosts to single digits with just eight. With the result, Ahli are now half-way through the opening phase of WASL’s preliminary round. They will be back in action later this month with a game on Bahrain’s National Day, December 16, against Kuwait at home. They then travel to Dubai to take on Shabab Al Ahli in the new year on January 13, before facing Bashaer once again in their concluding fixture on January 20. Ahli are one of two Bahraini clubs competing in this year’s WASL Gulf sub-zone. Manama are the other. They are in Group A and will be back in action on Monday next week against Ittihad Club of Saudi Arabia. The game will be held at Green Basketball Court in Jeddah. The top seeds at the conclusion of the double round-robin group phase will earn outright berths to the best-of-three semi-finals. The second and third-ranked teams, on the other hand, will have to go through the cross-over play-offs for the last four, which will also be held in best-of-three. The top three teams from both the Gulf and the WASL’s West Asia sub-zone will qualify for the FIBA WASL Final Eight, where they will be joined by the champions of South and Central Asia.
Courtesy of: gdnonline.com