MANAMA (FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Pre-Qualifiers - Western Region) – Hosts Bahrain beat Bangladesh 126-52, while earlier in the day, Saudi Arabia outclassed Sri Lanka 107-44. 

Bahrain beat Bangladesh 126-52

Bahrain came out all guns blazing, posting some rare statistical numbers during a blowout 74 point win over Bangladesh. While Bahrain's victory today over bottom placed Bangladesh came as little surprise, the side's clinical efficiency and nearly flawless execution through 40 minutes was quite astounding. All 12 Bahrain players were on the floor for more than 10 minutes  each and all of them got on the scoring charts. Bahrain's bench alone ended up scoring 72 points.

Overall, the team shot nearly 55% from the field despite a high 91 shot attempts. The crisp passing side had 43 team assists and a mind boggling overall efficiency of +185. 50 of Bahrain's points came from forcing Bangladesh into a whopping 34 turnovers, 

Bangladesh's three seasoned starters Mithun Biswas, Md Shamsuzzaman Khan and Mithun Sarkar scored in double digits, but that did little to alter the result. The game started unassumingly, with Bahrain leading 23-13 at the end of the first quarter. Thereafter, though, Bahrain scored at least 30 points or more in the remaining three periods to finish with 126 points, the highest by far in this tournament. 

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia beat Sri Lanka 107-44

In the first game of the evening, Saudi Arabia continued from where it had left off yesterday against Palestine. Racing away to a 9-0 lead, Saudi Arabia's superior size and athleticism was too much to handle for their south Asian opponents. Sri Lanka's talented small forward Praneeth Udumalagala initially held his own against the might of his opponents, but lacked support from his teammates. 

At the end of the first quarter, Saudi Arabia led 28-11, and by halftime was ahead 52-20. Struggling against Saudi Arabia's length and speed, Sri Lanka turned the ball over 33 times, and was restricted to single digit scoring in the second and fourth quarters. Saudi Arabia power forward Ayoub Alhawsawi finished as the most efficient player of the game, with a double double of 11 points, 14 rebounds, 6 steals, 2 assists and a block. 

FIBA