MANAMA (Bahrain) - Muharraq Club finally solved the riddle that is Kazma following a resounding 92-64 victory to post back-to-back wins for the first time in the 2025-26 FIBA WASL-Gulf League, Tuesday at the BBA Arena.
The Zain Premier League champions struggled to decode their Kuwait counterparts and lost to them twice in as many games in the past, but flipped the script this time, at last, to eventually revitalize their playoff push.
From starting out with back-to-back losses which included a 95-81 beatdown at the hands of their old tormentors, the crew has now improved to .500 with a 2-2 record and climbed to the no. 3 spot in Group A.
Kazma fell to 1-3 and dropped to the bottom of the pool, and this result could be crucial should there be a need to resort to points later on in determining which of the four teams shall advance to the Final Phase.
"Of course [this is] very crucial because we were backed to the wall," offered head coach Peter Schomers. "We were in a similar position the last game, we did a good job. Our curve is going up, so to speak."
Nick West starred for Muharraq with a monster double-double of 30 points and 15 rebounds. New guy Timmy Bond made a good account of himself in his debut with 21 points on top of 7 rebounds and 8 assists.
The two were key in their squad's fiery start into the match, in which the team knocked down a quartet of three-pointers toward a 25-7 lead just before the first quarter ended that dictated where the game headed.
Clicking that early on offense was similar to the way they began against Ittihad Club the last time out but the difference this time was consistency, as they refused to allow any let-up unlike versus the Saudis.
The whole group was so locked in that their lead grew to as big as 42 at one point, as Coach Bojan Lazic and the visitors couldn't generate any rhythm whatsoever on both ends of the floor, leading to the crushing defeat.
Also coming through with commendable showings were Mohammed Ameer with 17 points alongside 10 rebounds and Kerwin Roach with his 14-8-5 stat line as they helped sustain Muharraq's flow all the way to the end.
Soon, the Red Wolves will turn their attention to last year's WASL-Gulf League finalists as reigning titlists Shabab Al Ahli and Ittihad Club will be their next opponents on January 12 and January 19, respectively.
Strahinja Micovic led Kazma with 17 points and 9 rebounds in the humiliating defeat, which is now their third consecutive after opening their season victoriously against, coincidentally, Muharraq.
Ahmad Albaloushi and JaJuan Johnson backed him up with 13 points each.
FIBA