Five numbers that stood out from Muharraq's streak-busting win

KUWAIT CITY (Kuwait) - Kuwait Club went through an entire calendar year without a loss in the West Asia Super League (WASL) - Gulf.

They played their first game on 20 December 2022 and defeated Al Sadd for their first victory. They kept on winning and winning for a whopping total of 13 games, a span that included a championship-winning run. And then, they faced Muharraq on 8 January 2024.

After a back-and-forth contest that saw the lead change hands 15 times, Kuwait Club's win streak came to a close in a 101-96 defeat.

Here, we take a look at some of the standout numbers from the impressive win by WASL-Gulf debutants, Muharraq.

101 Points

Over all of their previous 13 games in WASL-Gulf, Kuwait Club had allowed 82.7 points per game. In only one occasion did they allow at least 100 points, which was against Shabab Al Ahli where they allowed exactly 100 points in a 10-point win.

Muharraq brought the firepower to score 101 points, the most Kuwait Club has allowed. The Bahraini club also shot an efficient clip of 45.8 percent field-goal shooting and 46.4 percent three-point shooting, both second-highest allowed by Kuwait Club.

34 Points

The main source of that firepower from Muharraq was Bader Malabes. This should not surprise anyone as the 36-year-old has been one of the top options for the team. He's scored in double-digits in all games and has knocked down at least 4 three-pointers in 3 of the past 4 games as well.

The experienced guard totaled 34 points in this important win which is not only a personal high, it is also the second-most by a non-foreign player in WASL-Gulf. He is now only one of two non-foreign players to score at least 30 points in the league.

 

29 EFF

Don't forget Mohamed Juma, though!

While Malabes led the team in scoring, 26-year-old Juma led the team in Efficiency with what has been his best game yet in WASL-Gulf. Juma played in all but 52 seconds of the contest, logging personal highs in points (25), rebounds (8), assists (4), and Efficiency (29).

He's been a key piece of Muharraq's gameplan, especially whenever they play against Kuwait Club, and it resulted in a win.

16 Rebounds

TJ Wilkerson has been a beast for Muharraq. This was clear from day one when he scored 34 points in his debut (the most in a WASL-Gulf debut) against Kuwait Club in the season opener. It was also the most points any player has scored against Kuwait Club in WASL.

However, that scoring explosion did not result in a win.

In this rematch, Wilkerson was "limited" to his lowest scoring output so far this season with 18 points, but was instead productive with 16 rebounds - tying the WASL-Gulf season-high and tying his personal-high.

9 Assists

Husain Ali was still in a giving mood even after the holidays, dropping 9 assists in Muharraq's win. The 30-year-old had been solid in limited minutes coming into this game with 7 assists over two games and continues to perform well as a facilitator for the team.

Ali's 9 assists is tied with Kuwait Club's Hamad Hasan for the most by a non-foreign player this WASL-Gulf season (Tony Carr had 10 earlier in the season).

BONUS: 385 Days

All runs come to an end. Muharraq deserves all the praise for how well they played to secure the win and put an end to Kuwait Club's run.

Still, what a run it was by the inaugural WASL-Gulf season champions. Kuwait Club went 385 days in total from their first WASL-Gulf game until the game against Muharraq before suffering their first loss. Through that span of 13 games, Kuwait Club:

scored 98.4 points per game (including two games of scoring 110 points) won by an average margin of 15.6 points per game shot 49.3 percent from the field and shot 37.5 percent from the three-point line [/unordered]

They have been pure class in WASL-Gulf. And nothing has changed even if their win streak has come to an end. It just means that Muharraq are just that good of a team and that this season's battle for the WASL-Gulf title will be as entertaining as ever to the end.

FIBA