Darius Rice Seals The Victory

REIGNING champions Manama last night defeated fierce rivals Muharraq by 110-109 to send the Bahrain Basketball Cup Final to a third and deciding game.

Played out in an electric atmosphere in front of a partisan crowd of several hundred at the Zain Bahrain Basketball Arena in Umm Al Hassam, the two powerhouses went almost score-for-score for the duration of what was simply an epic battle but it was Manama who gained revenge for their defeat in the opening game on Sunday.

That win, by a margin of 76-71, meant Muharraq went into last night's match looking to seal the title but Manama were never going to give up on their crown without a monumental fight and they duly set their stall out from the opening exchanges.

After Mohammed Hassan opened the scoring with a well-taken three-pointer, Manama held the lead for much of the first period but Muharraq gradually clawed their way back into the equation.

Locked at 22-22 approaching the hooter, the final second of play in that opening 10-minute spell remarkably produced a further three points for both sides.

Play continued in much the same vein in the second quarter, with the class and sheer intensity on show only further reflecting the gap that exists between these two sides and the rest of the league.

Manama again opened up a valuable lead , that at one stage stretched out to 10 points, during that period but as in the first, Muharraq did enough to keep in touch and by the half-time break trailed by only 48-49.

Unlike in some of the more recent meetings between the two sides, in which Muharraq's discipline at times let them down, last night they looked a lot calmer and in control and that went a long way to ensuring they held a 79-78 lead heading into the final quarter.

Respective coaches Charlie Parker (Muharraq) and Ricardo Daniel (Manama) could only look on as the match pushed towards an energy-sapping conclusion.

That the match maintained its shape, pace and discipline is a credit to both sides and this was a result that was always going to be a heart-breaker for the team on the wrong end of the scoreline.

In the end it was a free-throw from Darius Rice that moved Manama into a three-point lead with only one second left on the clock and, despite a couple of points from the free-throw line from Ahmed Hassan and then a last-ditch long-range effort from Bader Abdulla that came agonisingly close, Manama held on for victory.

The free-flowing game saw top scores of 33 points for Muharraq's CJ Giles and 28 for Manama's Hassan Nourooz and means the two teams will return to the same venue to battle it out all over again on Sunday evening.


(gulf-daily-news.com)