Ahli dominate early in win over Riffa to begin Top Six

Al Ahli kicked off the action in the Zain Bahrain Basketball League’s Top Six Division last night with a resounding 76-50 victory over Riffa at Zain Arena in Um Al Hassam. Ahli held their rivals to just one point in the entire first quarter, and they never recovered from there as the victors cruised to the final buzzer.

Ahli enjoyed leads as big as 30 points in the game. Newly signed American professional Dexter Pittman was their top scorer with 21 points. He also had 16 rebounds in the game to go with three blocks. Hesham Sarhan added 14 while Maytham Jameel scored 12. Sayed Hashim Habib contributed 10 off the bench, while captain Mohammed Qurban nearlhy had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.

Younes Kuwayed scored 17 to pace Riffa in the loss. Subah Hussain added 12 and Mohammed Salman 11. Meanwhile, in the Zain Silver League, Sitra defeated Samaheej 97-86. Serbian Milos Macura had a monster effort of 29 points and 20 rebounds to spearhead the winners, who also got 26 points from ageless court general Hussain Taqi.

Sitra shrugged off a slow start and took control of the game in the third quarter, where they outscored Samaheej by 11, 26-15. That gave them a narrow 66-62 advantage heading into the final canto, and Sitra maintained their fine form from there.