Manama keep Group B lead, beat Kazma once more

KUWAIT CITY (Kuwait) - Manama went full throttle in the fourth quarter and left Kazma in the dust, 102-82, to own another chapter of their brewing rivalry in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) Season 2, Monday night at the Shaikh Saad Alabdullah Sport Hall Complex.

Travin Thibodeaux erupted for 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as he bannered the reigning champions' sudden breakaway from an 80-78 deficit with 6:03 left to play en route to stretching their unbeaten run to four and remaining on top of Group B of the Gulf League.

Sir'Dom Pointer, Ali Rashed, and Ahmed Haji also provided significant contributions as they made sure that their winning ways would continue and made a statement that everything is alright in the club despite the departure of star guard Mosti Rashed, who's been loaned to Qatar.

Game heroes: Pointer finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. New reinforcement Cameron Clark made 13 points and six boards in a triumphant FIBA WASL debut.

Rashed made 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Haji supplied 11 points, while Mohammed Ameer chipped in 10 and 10, as six players finished in double figures in the win.

Turning point: Manama appeared to be on the way to suffering an upset when they fell by a field goal but Pointer was quick to tie the game at 80-all after a perfect trip to the line with 5:22 to go.

It sparked what would be a 14-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back triples by Thibodeuax - towards a 92-80 lead with 3:08 left to play, which opened the floodgates that swept away Kazma.

Stats don't lie: Thibodeaux finished the game with an efficiency of 46, which is now the highest EFF rating tallied in a FIBA WASL game. That, after shooting an excellent 75-percent from the field and also collecting 4 assists and 2 steals against just one turnover in under 30 minutes.

The win also saw two opposing players combine for most points in the league featuring Thibodeaux and Clint Chapman, who finished with a game-high 35 points to lead Kazma, which failed to follow up their 101-75 road win over the winless Al Shamal on December 19.

They said, "Like I said before, I trust my players. We had four or five wins since he [Mosti] left; big win on the road... We love him. We wish him all the best. He's making the next step. But life goes on. I believe my guys are capable of continuing the journey." Linos Gavriel, Head Coach, Manama

"It was a good performance. But I'm just thankful for my teammates and my coaches. Sometimes they believe in me more than I believe in myself. I give the credit to them because they're always pushing me and I'm just happy to be in this team." - Travin Thibodeaux, Manama

"We need to stay focused and not allow ourselves any kind of outside thing to put us out of the game or put us out of rhythm." - Bojan Lazic, Head Coach, Kazma

"Very frustrating. You claw your way back, you tie, we finally get the lead. But in the last four minutes, we imploded. We ran out—I ran out of gas, but that's not an excuse. The final score doesn't reflect how we played the game today, but... it's frustrating." Clint Chapman, Kazma

FIBA