Mosti lights up Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai as Manama go 3-0

DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - Mosti Rashed shone the brightest as Manama took down Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai in a battle of favorites, 73-67, to remain spotless in the FIBA West Asia Super League (WASL) Season 2, Monday night at the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall.

The diminutive marksman was on point anew, finishing with a game-high 29 points on an impressive 6-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc as he helped the reigning champions gain enough leverage in the endgame to eventually notch their third win in as many games.

Now, they're sitting on top of Group B all by themselves after dealing the Emirati ball club their first loss after starting the season with wins over Al Shamal and Kazma.

The game, though, started with both teams paying their respects to the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who passed away last December 17. A moment of silence was held before jump ball.

Game heroes: Tony Farmer continued his solid play with Manama as he finished with 16 points on 6-of-12 field goal shooting, alongside 8 rebounds and a pair of steals.

Ahmed Haji contributed 10 points, missing only one of his five attempts from the field as the trio stepped up on a night Sir'Dom Pointer got held to just 4 points, although the veteran big man managed to help out on the boards as he had a team-high 9 boards.

STEP AHEAD Player of the Game: Mosti earned STEP AHEAD Player of the Game honors for his exceptional performance, wherein he shot 61.1-percent from the floor and also collected 4 rebounds and 2 assists on the way to tallying an efficiency rating of 23.

 Turning point: Manama were clinging to a slim three-point lead until Rashed clicked from deep. He nailed back-to-back triples, the last of which a kick-out from Mohammad Ameer even if the latter was wide-open for a lay-up, to push their lead to 64-55 with 4:37 remaining in the game.

They would lead by as much twice more afterwards but the home team got to within just three, 70-67, with less than a minute left, but could not capitalize on the opportunities to get closer.

Stats don't lie: Manama lost in various statistical departments such as rebounds (32-36) and assists (13-16) but team defense did wonders. They limited Shabab Al Ahli-Dubai to only 67 points after their fellow FIBA WASL returnees averaged 90.5 points in their first two games.

They said: "We're definitely satisfied, for sure, with our position. But, of course, we're not 100-percent satisfied. The way we're playing, we need to improve on a lot of things. But still, the game style is still giving us wins. This is what happened tonight: we focused on our defense on a bad offensive night. We kept them at 67 points, they averaged 90. That's a big difference." - Linos Gavriel, Head Coach, Manama

"We are in a good moment right now but we must work more and focus more. Inshallah, in the future, we'll be better as a team." - Mosti Rashed, Manama

FIBA