Manama, Riffa triumph in BBA Cup

Manama and Riffa were both victorious last night in the Bahrain Basketball Association (BBA) Cup. Manama edged past Al Hala 109-98 while Riffa routed Samaheej 95-53. Both games were in Group B of the tournament and they were played at Zain Basketball Arena in Um Al Hassam.

In Manama’s win, they went ahead by as many as 24 points and then staved off a late comeback from Hala to claim the hard-earned result. Hala were able to get back to within seven points in the final period, but it was too little too late. American professional Christopher McKnight had a monster effort of 35 points and nine rebounds to spearhead Manama. Skipper Mohammed Hussain added a near-triple double with 22 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.

Hassan Nowrooz chipped in with 21 points of the bench, while Mohammed Jassim finished with 14 points and 10 boards. Three Hala players also over 20. Da’quan Cook from the US and guard Mohammed Salah scored 22 points apiece while Ahmed Khalifa added 20 in defeat. In Riffa’s win, they dominated from the start and enjoyed leads as big as 42 points. American import Joseph Jones had 20 points and 16 rebounds to pace Riffa, who had five players in double figures.

Mohammed Khalid and Hasan Alkhaja came off the bench to contribute 18 and 11 points, respectively, while Abdulrahman Ghali also had 11 with Ali Jassim scoring 10. Antwan Wilkerson had 26 and 10 for Samaheej but he got little help from elsewhere. Cup action continues tonight with Al Ahli facing Nuwaidrat in Group A at 5.30pm followed by Isa Town playing Bahrain Club in Group B at 7.15pm.